Stories with Stuzin: Staying at Stuy

Name: Lauren Stuzin 

Subject: English 

What subject do you teach? Why did you choose to teach it?

 I teach English because that was always my favorite subject.

Why did you choose to teach at Stuyvesant? What do you like (or not like) to teach here?

When I ended up here, I was a student teacher, which is a mandatory thing that you have to do when you’re becoming a teacher. I was a student teacher for Miss Weller, who was pregnant. She ended up going into labor early, so I had to take over her class. One day I woke up and she was like, “You’re the teacher now,” and I was like, “Oh my God.” The next year, I think someone was out. So I filled in for them, and then eventually it worked out for me. I feel like I got really lucky because the students at Stuy are thinking at a college level, so I’m having these really rich discussions, reading these really interesting papers that are intellectually stimulating for me. 

Can you tell us a little more about your younger years? Where did you grow up? What did you love to do as a child?

I grew up technically upstate. It was really 20 minutes outside the Bronx, so it wasn’t very far, but technically up there. And I went to a really small high school, and I had a kind of sheltered suburban upbringing. I spent more time around grass than kids at Stuy do. I was also born in New York City and grew up here as a young child, so I have always kind of felt a connection to New York City. I’ve always felt like this was the place that I was gonna end up. However, I did like upstate. There’s a lot of nice trees. I was big into playing sports. I played softball, volleyball, and I went skiing—those were big things for me growing up. 

Did you always want to be a teacher? If not, what did you want to be beforehand?

It was kind of a random decision for me. In my senior year of college, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I was deciding between being a teacher and being a lawyer; my family wanted me to become a lawyer, so I had to break free from that. I was like, I think I’ll just be happier kind of staying in academia. It was really a spur-of-the-moment decision that ended up working out for me.

What challenges have you faced being a teacher, especially after so many years of teaching? Do you think that Stuy students have changed since then?

It is, first of all, way harder than I ever thought it was gonna be. Nothing is as stressful as being a student, because you have those peaks of stress, right? You have a test and you get really panicked. It’s this really immediate stress, a kind of intense experience. But being a teacher is this low level of stress all the time. So I didn’t really expect that because I was like, oh, you know, I’ll get out early, I’ll go home. But I feel like there’s a lot—the workload is a lot more intense than I expected. But other than having a lot of essays to grade, I do enjoy the work that I’m doing, so I’m happy about that. 

When I started teaching at Stuy, we had Jupiter, but the students couldn’t see it. Stuy has always been intense, but when we changed it so that the students could see every single thing in Jupiter, I think things got a little more granular. There was more fixation on numbers to the decimal point and stuff like that. So I think in that regard, the tensions around grades have gotten more intense since probably the past five years.

What is the most rewarding part of your job? 

Interacting with students, just forging relationships, is my favorite. 

Do you have any funny anecdotes from your years in the classroom, either as a student or teacher?

Well, as a teacher, during my first year, there was a senior who asked to go to the bathroom. He was gone for a really long time, and when he came back, he had a whole—I don’t know how it was possible, but—a whole McDonald’s kids' meal. He had the whole spread. It was a burger, fries, and I think there was even dessert. He just came back with it all, opened it up on his desk. And everyone was like, “Where did you just go? Like, how did that happen?” That would never have happened in my high school. So I was so surprised that he came back with a full meal. 

If you could teach any other subject besides English, what would it be and why?

Maybe Health. I don’t feel like I know enough about biology right now to teach health, but I wish I had gotten better sex education and also information about drugs, alcohol, psychology, and mental health. I really wish I had gotten a better education in that regard myself in high school. 

What’s one thing students do that always makes you laugh?

I love when students get so hyper about something—even if they’re being distracting—because they’re obsessing about the book or something like that. I love those moments because I’ll be like, “shh in the back,” and then they’re actually like, “oh no, we’re debating about this page or the book,” and I think that’s just such a Stuy moment.

What’s the most surprising thing a student has ever asked or said to you?

It surprised me in the beginning of teaching that students would ask about my personal life and to follow me on social media and stuff like that—I didn’t really expect that. When you’re in high school, people tell you, “Oh, don’t have anything in your social media because colleges will see it,” but I didn’t realize that as a teacher, I might have to think about what information was out there because students were looking it up. Since then, I got rid of all my social media. Not only for that reason, but also because I don’t need as much information out there about me. 

If you could go back in time and give advice to your high school self, what would you say?

It’s going to be okay. 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Someone once told me that you can observe your feelings and not necessarily get lost in them. So instead of having feelings be all-consuming, like, “oh, everything’s so horrible, I can’t imagine it getting better,” you can say, “I see that I’m feeling that everything is horrible and it’s never going to get better. And I wonder why I’m feeling that way,” instead of just letting it overtake you. 

What’s one thing you wish more students knew about you or your class?

That I am just figuring it out like anyone else. I don’t have all the answers, and I’m a work in progress. 

How does being a part of the LGBTQ+ community shape you as a teacher?

I feel like I am a little more fearless about engaging with texts that have complicated gender and sexuality representation. I think people feel comfortable coming to share stuff with me if they’re having feelings or writing about it, but it seems there’s some connectivity there in people identifying me as someone that they can feel safe with.

What is your teaching philosophy (i.e., how do you plan your lessons and assignments so they are actually engaging, thought-provoking, and interesting to students)?

I’m always figuring it out. Pretty much every year, I change the lesson a little bit. So it’s nice to hear that it’s working because then next year I look at it and I realize, “Oh, this isn’t good enough. I have to make it more interesting. I have to add some more.” I’m also constantly on the lookout for stuff to add, such as the “Banality of Evil” thing (a phrase coined by Hannah Arendt describing how ordinary people can engage in immoral acts) that we did. I saw that on Reddit, and I was like, “Oh my god, I don’t know about this,” so then I looked into it and put it into the lesson. I’m trying to make connections in my daily life to bring into the classroom, and I’m just trying to make it interesting for myself, too.

Fun Questions! 

Introvert or extrovert?

I think I’m more introverted, but I imagine my students would be surprised about that because I think the most extroverted I am is in the classroom.

Favorite movie?

Well, I’m just going to say I watched this movie recently, which is kind of Maus-related in a way, but it’s called The Case Against Harry. It was this movie that this guy, who escaped Nazi Germany, made about a New York Jew who was a small time gambler, and it was a made-up story and it’s a comedy. The movie got lost for around 20 years, and then it was found again. I just watched it and I thought it was really funny, so: The Case Against Harry.

If you were to dye your hair, what color would you choose? 

Last year or two years ago, I dyed it pink. And every time I’ve dyed it, I think I dyed it pink. I always think I should do it with some other color, but then I gravitate back to pink. 

If you were Gregor Samsa (from Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis) and you could choose a creature to transform into, what would you choose? 

I’m curious about being an ant, because they’re very cooperative with each other. They’re very self-sacrificial. I mean, I feel like I would die immediately as an ant, but maybe I’d have a really formative experience before that.

If you were Penelope (from Homer’s The Odyssey), would you wait all those years for Odysseus? If not, what would you do instead?

Oh, heck no. I feel like she was trapped, and I don’t feel like there was much emotional connection between them other than just fear, anxiety, and expectations. So, if I were Penelope, I would try to become a Lady Catherine de Bourgh (from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice), but not mean. I would try to just be single, and not necessarily own the land, but own my own life. 

If you had to choose an animal to represent the students of Stuyvesant (as in Maus by Art Spiegelman), what would you choose and why?

A dolphin. They are ever-exploring, they like to connect on their own wavelength, and they have their own language to speak—I feel sometimes that's what's going on in Stuy. There’s this specific culture and this specific way of existing at Stuy: being friendly with other species, yet they have this rich society of their own.