Goldberg

A poet at heart, Rachel Goldberg has always had a love for, and fascination with writing and literature. Now, she has a chance to share that passion with students every day.  

Goldberg is the newest addition to the Oyster River High School (ORHS) English department, and though we are still early in the new school year, she’s already creating a positive impact.  

 When Goldberg isn’t teaching, she works in the Writing Center. She’s taken advantage of being thrown into a central part of our school’s community, connecting with students she otherwise couldn’t have.  

Ellie Macmanes (‘25) is a student in one of Goldberg’s Expository Writing classes and has worked with her closely outside of class in the Writing Center. “I think that has been helpful for me to feel more comfortable in her class […] Seeing her outside of the class made me feel more connected to at least one person.”  

Goldberg recalled a meaningful moment in another one of her Expository Writing classes when students volunteered to share 100-word personal narratives with the class. “I think that writing is often a site of vulnerability which can lead to really meaning full connections, and so I saw that moment of sharing in my class as the start of a movement towards more vulnerability with that group of students.”  

 This belief in the relationship between vulnerability and writing is part of why Goldberg has always been very passionate about English and literature. She recalls that there wasn’t one specific moment where she fell in love with it all, but that it was poetry that had initially sparked her interest at a very young age. “The first time that I thought about wanting to be a teacher was actually in second grade, and that was largely because that was my first memorable experience with poetry,” Goldberg says. 

She remembers she always wanted to teach at the level she was learning, before reaching high school and realizing that this is where she belongs. “I loved my second-grade teacher. I thought, ‘okay I want to teach elementary school.’ I got to middle school, continued to love reading, writing, analyzing literature, and I thought, ‘okay I want to teach middle school.’ Got to high school and I thought, ‘okay, no I really want to work with high schoolers.” 

Before coming to ORHS, Goldberg attended Colby College as a double major in English and education, with a minor in sociology. During her senior year she had done a semester of student teaching, but being a teacher at ORHS is her first full-time position. Jake Baver, a tutor in the Writing Center, said that from the first time they met last year he could tell how committed she was, and that she was going to be a great fit at ORHS. “This is a person that is not taking the education of young people lightly.”  

Macmanes said that when working with Goldberg, “She doesn’t want to change your writing style or anything she just wants to try to really understand where you’re coming from, and how to improve your personal writing.” 

One of her advisees, Danika Harington (‘28), has also worked with her a lot on schoolwork, and said that she’s been an amazing resource. “She set up a binder for me to help me organize myself.” Goldberg has a freshman advisory, meaning that they are all navigating a new environment this year. Nevertheless, she is excited for the rest of the year and the opportunity to learn and grow right alongside her students.  

Goldberg says, “It feels exciting that this ambition I’ve had since second grade has come to fruition in a very special place, and to feel like I’ve already made some meaningful connections with students… I’m looking forward to the rest of the school year, and for me, it’s like everyday thinking, ‘okay, what do I want to do differently tomorrow?’” 

“Band Aid” was a poem Goldberg wrote in college while working on a poetry thesis. The poem explores
themes of climate change and the burden placed on young people today to make a change.

-Elise Bacon