A Continuum of Curiosity and Learning

Ali Nauen ’19 is back on the Dana Hall campus this fall, observing Humanities classes in the Middle School as part of her master’s program in teaching and teaching leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

A graduate of Denison University with a degree in communication and environmental studies, Nauen knew she wanted to explore a teaching career too late to change her major, so she looked into opportunities post-graduation. She began teaching theater at the Foote School in New Haven, Ct., as an associate covering grades K-9. While she enjoyed the experience, as Nauen was heavily involved in the performing arts while she was a student at Dana Hall, she preferred a single-sex environment to the coed classrooms at Foote.

With this opportunity in the Middle School, her classroom observation allows her to see different sides of education, she said. “I want to see where I fit. With independent schools, there’s so much flexibility with how you get involved. You can be an English teacher and a softball coach and a lunch monitor and work with the theater. There are so many different shades of teaching and mentoring here.”

As a member of the LGBTQ community and a queer educator, Nauen credits Dana Hall with giving her “a community where I felt safe and respected in, and accepting of who I am,” she said. She looked forward to the dinners held on campus for fellow queer students where she got to see adults in the community in a different way. It’s part of what draws her to independent schools.

Wherever she ends up, she plans to bring curiosity into the classroom, something she first experienced here. “There’s a different energy here,” she said. “You walk into a Dana classroom and it’s engaging and fun. It’s why I wanted to come back.”