Mrs. Bridget Dean-Pratt is a well known English teacher throughout George Mason High School, and a lively one at that. Is it that her energy comes from a love for the subject she teaches, or past experiences that incentivise teaching? Maybe it’s a mix of her passionate love for her subject and her well educated past shrouded in mystery.
In her childhood, Dean-Pratt was already preparing herself for the teacher lifestyle.
“In my family, we had seven children. So, I was the second oldest, and I was often showing the younger ones how to do things,” Dean-Pratt said.
Acting as a mentor for her younger siblings allowed teaching to be a natural instinct of Dean-Pratt. She also found (and still finds) her family gatherings to be some of the brightest memories that she has. Those gatherings will always have a special place in her heart because she always catches up with family members who now follow the example of the second oldest sister.
While Dean-Pratt took on the life of a regular student in high school and college, she enjoyed subjects like art and writing. Her dream job was to become an artist.
“So, I guess my dream job would have been to be an artist, but unless you’re fantastic, which I didn’t think I was, you’re probably not going to make that much money,” Dean-Pratt said.
Even though art became just a hobby, she took many classes as a student. In high school and college, she took many art classes that were year round programs to advance her skills.
Later in life, she dropped art for something she found even more intriguing: the English language.
“What I really loved was learning how English evolved to what it is now,” Dean-Pratt said.
She was captivated by the way that literature has progressed through time and desired for more knowledge on the topic. Eventually this lead her into the field of teaching English Literature. She attended many schools and programs in pursuit of knowledge in this field. For example, she went to Quinine Mercy College and Temple University in Philadelphia, as well as the Saint John’s Graduate Institute in Indianapolis, where she renewed her Masters in the Liberal Arts of the Humanities.
After Dean-Pratt got her job as a teacher at GMHS, she has left an impression that’s sure to stick for a while with some of her students…
“I respect her as a teacher but I also think that she is very passionate about what she teaches,” said David Gardner, freshman.
“I think she is a really nice and I like how she grades our papers,” said Justin Britton, junior.
“As long as you turn in your work mostly on time, she’ll be happy,” said Lanson Ly, junior.
Now, if you were to meet Ms. Dean-Pratt for the first time, what would you envision? A creative and artistic teacher or one that has a great interest in literature? Why not both?
