Hi there...

So I’m a pretty generic high school English Teacher. Whatever you're imagining is probably right on; I love books and kids and conversations about literature and life and what it’s even all for.

​

Back when I was a new teacher the rug kept getting pulled out from under me. “Bad news, Mrs. Espinosa broke her leg. You’re taking over her English 11 Honors. They do Gatsby. Class starts tomorrow.” 

​

That sort of thing happened a lot— the sudden reassignment, not the leg thing— and each time I would go scampering to the internet, looking for resources that could guide me through teaching a book I hadn’t picked up in years. 

​

I found plenty of summaries, but I what I needed was a roadmap.

​

So I made one and named it One Day Ahead. Here I make deeply nerdy, irreverent, authentically enthusiastic literature analysis videos that live at the chapter level. I have a series on Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, My Last Duchess and To Kill A Mockingbird. 

​

I recognized two things early: (1) No amount of depth and insight will matter if the videos are not entertaining, and (2) those things are not mutually exclusive. 

​

That’s been my formula, and I’ve found an audience. Some are students seeking to better understand what they just read, others are kids trying to avoid reading altogether. But most gratifying of all are the teachers, looking for a roadmap to lead students into complex consideration and the sort of lit analysis that's really empathy in disguise.