Meet educator Diana Rankin. 'My favorite thing about teaching are the students.'

Diana Rankin is an English teacher at Jackson Local Schools and says that after teaching at various levels over the past 24 years, and no matter the age, her students are the best part of her job.

“I love the energy they bring, their views of the world, and how they have their whole future ahead of them," she said. "I couldn’t have a job where I didn’t interact with kids."

Rankin graduated from Maumee High School in a small suburb outside of Toledo and then went to graduate from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Her major was secondary English education with an endorsement in reading instruction K-12.

She now lives in North Canton with her husband Andy Rankin, who is a high school English teacher at Hoover High School, and their daughter Sami, who is a freshman at Hoover High School. The family also has an “almost 8-year-old Weimaraner named Willow.”

“I started my career at Marlington High School in 1999 teaching sophomore and junior English," Rankin said. "I taught there a year before accepting a position at Jackson Memorial Middle School teaching an "Introduction to Speech" class to eighth graders. The following year, I moved to seventh grade English Language Arts (ELA) where I taught for the next 10 years."

Her last year at the middle school, she taught seventh and eighth grade ELA. Then in 2012, she moved to the high school and has taught a variety of English classes at the sophomore, junior and senior level.

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Would you detail what you teach in your English classes?

This year, I teach Accelerated English 10, JSA Accelerated English 10, and Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller English 12.

The focus of my English 10 classes is American literature. We'll read classics like "The Great Gatsby," "Of Mice and Men" and "Fahrenheit 451." The students get to explore their own interests in reading every quarter by selecting a choice novel. We read poetry, editorials, historical speeches, and essays which students examine in our Socratic seminar discussions, their own essays, and projects.

This is the first year for Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller English 12, which is a semester-long elective English class. We'll explore these genres through a variety of texts and mediums. I can't wait to delve into Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Allan Poe Stephen King, Alfred Hitchcock, Agatha Christie, Patricia Highsmith, and true crime with them.

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After 24 years of teaching, what has changed the most over those years and what has stayed the same?

In the 24 years that I've been in the classroom, the expectations placed on teachers and students has increased exponentially.

One of the major areas of stress for both students and teachers are high stakes testing. The number of tests students take over their career is astronomical between MAP, AIR, ACT, SAT, AP. There is so much pressure to perform on one test that takes place on one day because so much is riding on that score ― teacher evaluations, school district ratings, the future of the student.

I'm waiting for the pendulum to swing back away from testing, and maybe we're at the beginning of that. I know a lot of colleges have waived the ACT requirement which is a step in the right direction.

What has stayed the same is the school model. We're still teaching and expecting students to learn in a structure that was created over a century ago. We need a model that meets the demands of the legislation that is passed at the state and national level and supports 21st century students and teachers.

Some of the greatest things that have stayed the same are teachers' ability to adapt to anything that is given to them, teachers' passion for their students and the students' desire to have a place where they feel like they are a part of a community.

Why did you select English to teach?

I chose to teach English because I have always loved reading and writing, which I know sounds cliche for an English teacher, but it's true!

I love getting so lost in a book that when it ends, I feel like I left a part of me in the book. I also was inspired by my four amazing English teachers in high school who showed me that English is more than just reading a book and writing a book report.

We explored so many different ideas through such a variety of texts from “Les Misérables” to “The Scarlet Letter” to “The Silence of the Lambs” to Shakespeare to “Slaughterhouse Five” to “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

I appreciated the openness of the English classroom to explore the issues, characters and events in the texts we read. I saw that English wasn't about finding the one right answer but understanding how language works together to create meaning.

I wanted to create a similar environment in my own classroom, supporting my students in finding their voice both in discussions and in their writing.

What are some of your favorite books/authors or passages from a book?

I have so many favorites that I don't even know where to begin.

I think “Where the Crawdads Live” by Delia Owens is the perfect book. There is murder, mystery, love, social issues … It has it all. I wish I could read it for the first time again.

As far as an audiobook, I love Ann Patchett's “The Dutch House” read by Tom Hanks. Between the story itself and Tom Hanks‘ narration, it doesn’t get much better!

I read across many genres, but some of my favorite words of wisdom come from the Transcendentalism movement. Although the authors behind that movement were writing 200 years ago, so much of what they say is applicable to today. Henry David Thoreau says, “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor."

I find this so encouraging. We control so little of what goes on in our lives, but we can control our response to what happens. How empowering is that?

What do you do over your summer break each year?

My husband and I both teach, so summer is our time to do everything we can't do during the school year. We visit family, including a trip to Vermont to see my sister and her family and to make our yearly stop at the Ben & Jerry's headquarters.

We also take a family vacation to a different location each year. I catch up on all the reading that I didn't get to do during school. I make time for journaling and trying various crafts. I try to spend as many days as possible outside, either at the pool, going for walks, or working in my flower beds and garden.

Like most teachers, I also do the unglamorous task of schoolwork ― planning for the next year, finding new reading material for my students, fine tuning activities, and developing new projects.

Editor's note: Five questions with ... is a Sunday feature that showcases a member of the Stark County community. If you'd like to recommend someone to participate, send an email to newsroom@cantonrep.com.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: 5 questions with ... Jackson Local English teacher Diana Rankin