Welcome
“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”
-C.S. Lewis
About Me
Hello! My name is Anastasia Joy Gustafson. I am an English teacher and Girls’ Freshmen Basketball coach at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, Illinois.
I am currently working towards my MA in Writing at Northwestern University. In undergrad, I studied English and art education. I wrote for the ISU Vidette and occasionally worked as a private nanny. Before that, I worked as a tutor and babysitter for College Nannies+Sitters+Tutors. In 2019, while I was the editor in chief for the College of Lake County Chronicle, I won the Editorial Writer of the Year Award from the Illinois Community College Journalism Association.
This website has everything you need to know about my work as both a professional artist and educator.
My Teaching Philosophy
Education, in order to be truly effective, needs to be centered on the whole child. Educators should often pause and ask themselves: who are we teaching, and what do they need? Learning should be question-driven, incite critical thinking, and allow room for failure as students delight in the ongoing experimentation required to explore new, meaningful ideas. Learning, also, is a dynamic, fluid experience—never a static one. If students do not understand something today, they should be able to try again tomorrow. Further, education should be focused on the issues central to a student’s worldview and personal contexts. Intersectional identities, societal realities, and oppression are the topics an educator of merit brings into their classroom for their students to critically question, explore, and attempt to address.
