By Tee Haskell

As I walked into the Middle School’s Flippen Hall and into F125, I was immediately brought back into a simpler time in my life. College applications were in the distant future, and the longest paper I would have to write was only three pages. This retrospection was quickly broken as a group of Middle School girls entered the classroom, with the man of the hour behind them: Nathan Goodwyn. Goodwyn was my 8th Grade advisor and English teacher back in 2022, and I was extremely excited to hear about how his class had changed and his mindset behind his transition to teaching in the Upper School next year.

After quickly quelling the chatter from the class, Goodwyn instructed his class to continue working on their papers about a new book he decided to teach this year: Eyes of the Impossible by Dave Eggers, which replaced the long-taught Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, which Goodwyn sarcastically referred to as a “fan-favorite.”

Gliding through the material year after year is also partly the reason that Goodwyn is joining the Upper School English department next year. He says that “after 25 years of teaching 8th grade English, I wanted a new challenge. The people that I teach are vastly different, but all of their problems over the years have generally been the same.” He noted that the first verb in Collegiate’s Mission Statement is “to create” and in the past few years, he doesn’t feel like he had been creating as much. One of his new projects will be a Junior/Senior English elective called Modern World Literature, which he will plan out over the summer, and he is very excited for the challenge.

One of the questions I was most interested to hear about was how he was going to change his teaching style. I have always thought that Goodwyn’s teaching style is very similar to many of the teachers in the Upper School. His methods include cold calling on students, lots of one-on-one meetings, where he believes “the real teaching happens,” and using examples of experiences by other students to help others. His belief that one-on-one meetings are the most beneficial way to teach is very apparent, because his schedules are routinely filled with meetings with students during all of his free time, and he is always willing to meet before and after school, even during the seasons in which he is coaching. 

He believes that there will be some changes in his teaching style, because he understands that as students get older, they get more perceptive, and they can tell when someone isn’t being authentic. To Goodwyn, being himself is the most important thing, and the bottom line is that he has to find a way to teach kids how to become better readers and writers.

Goodwyn coaching Cub basketball in December 2024. Photo credit: Vlastik Svab.

I also asked how Goodwyn’s own children felt about his transition to the Upper School. Goodwyn has three kids at Collegiate: Bennett (‘31), Lenora (‘28), and graduating Senior Cameron (‘26), and he said that he cleared his decision with all of them before officially accepting his new role. He acknowledged that with Cameron graduating this year, it made sense, as Cameron’s transition to a new stage of life allowed Goodwyn to have a transition in his own life alongside Cameron.

Finally, I asked what he was going to miss most about the Middle School, and he immediately responded with, “the faculty.” After 25 years, many of the faculty have become more like friends and family instead of just being coworkers. Working with extremely supportive and friendly faculty such as History teacher Mike Ferry, English teacher Nick Sberna (who will be taking over Goodwyn’s role in 8th Grade English) and many others have been very gratifying for him. He also says he will miss the “zany-ness” of the Middle School and expects the Upper School to be a bit more calm. Goodwyn will still continue to stay connected with the younger students by coaching Middle School baseball and basketball.

Featured image credit: Brennan Heims.