Sarah cares about making personal connections to her students’ lives and believes learning and literature come alive through these connections!  For that reason, she will often start class by asking a question to spark discussion. When discussing literature, she encourages students make connections to characters or plot points to help them retain the key themes of the story. As they read, students are reminded that their lives are part of a much greater story—the Gospel story. 

Sarah has been an English educator for over eight years. Her love of literature and creative writing inspired her to pursue a Bachelor of Science in English education at New York University. While she was inspired by the vibrant literary culture that she encountered at NYU, she was disheartened by the state of modern education, which placed so much emphasis on individual experience over the wisdom of history and tradition. In her second year of teaching in the NYC public school system, she met her now-husband, Clinton, who had a passion for classical Christian education, and when he described it to her, she felt it embodied the ideal of how she had envisioned the English classroom. 

For three years, Sarah enjoyed teaching 7th–12th grade literature and writing courses at Bloomfield Christian School in Detroit, MI. There she also coordinated the school Speech Meet, taught research for Senior Thesis and served as an advisor for the literary club, the Samuel Johnson Society. During this time, Sarah completed a masters in classical Christian studies at New Saint Andrews College.

In 2019, Sarah and her husband moved to St. Andrews, Scotland, so he could complete a masters in theology and the arts. They now live in Oxford, England, where Clinton is completing research for a doctorate in divinity. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys riding her bike through the narrow, winding streets of Oxford, knitting, reading and discussing formal poetry with her husband on their podcast Poetry for the People

The best compliment that I have received from a student is simple: ‘I know you don’t just care about our grades or our performance in your class. You care about our lives and our walk with the Lord above all else.’

Courses taught by Sarah Collister