Most students have lost their love of reading due to assigned reading, but former Etowah student Morgan Barton, is encouraging her seniors to rediscover where books can take them. This is Barton’s first year teaching at Etowah; she teaches Advanced Composition.

“Once they get used to [reading] and it becomes habitual, they start enjoying the book and realizing they like the book. That’s how I advocate my reading in my classroom because I feel that the love of reading is lost,” Barton said.

All seniors enrolled in a literature class at Etowah are busy with the Senior Capstone during their first semester, making it difficult to work on other assignments.

“[Senior Project] is not really teaching them about literature and the beautiful parts of literature; it’s just kind of messy,” Barton said.

 Her plan was not always to teach. It was in Barton’s second year of college when she realized what she wanted to do in the future. Before, she was an art major with plans to go into graphic design.

“That’s kind of my first love, is art […] the art field is super competitive, and I wasn’t feeling having to compare my art to other people’s, and for a while I was thinking about changing,” Barton said.

Despite the major focus the Senior Capstone has been pulling, she continues to instill her own ideas into her classroom. At the beginning of class, her students have 10 minutes of independent reading.

“I want them, in their last year of high school, to enjoy English, and I want them to look forward to it, not only because of the class, but hopefully me being able to be enthusiastic enough to help them enjoy that,” Barton said.

Barton is excited for what the next semester offers and plans to make her students last year in high school memorable.