Madame Nissa Quill, the French teacher at Oakdale High School teaches French in a unique way. Through projects, activities, and engaging lessons, she strives to bring the best out of students.
“I always believed we are all born with our natural talents and that it is our job to bring the best that we can into the world,” states Madame Quill, the sole French teacher in Oakdale’s language department. In her early years, Quill worked as a YMCA counselor for her very first job in Georgia where she grew up.
“Halfway through the summer my boss came and he looked at me and he wanted me to evaluate myself. I gave him a middle ground answer because I didn’t want to be like, ‘I’m the best.’ He then looked at me and [said], ‘Nissa, you’re the most natural teacher that I have ever seen for your age,’” Quill recalls. This motivated her passion for teaching the new generation. Quill’s teaching career started in 1993 after graduating from Hood College and studying abroad in France. Later, she took a 6 year gap from her career to take care of her kids.
After graduating from Hood College and studying abroad in France, Quill started her teaching career. She has taught in schools all over FCPS, including Walkersville Middle, Linganore High, New Market Middle, and now Oakdale High. At Oakdale, she applies what she learned through her years of teaching to make a welcoming and engaging class.
“She does a lot of hands-on work and interactive things with the class. She lets us watch French videos and songs as our warm-ups so it is very interactive,” junior Micah Venezie comments. The variety of resources Quill uses to help her students learn French in a fun way illustrates her passion for educating.
“For me, success is about the strength that students gain overtime and watching them become more mature, growing into themselves and finding what their goals are. So it looks a little bit different every year and with every student,” Quill revealed. She achieves this by giving students opportunities to learn from one another during class; Quill’s teaching is based on the success of students.
Through her years of teaching at Oakdale, many of her students found her class to be fun and interactive. Through her contributions to the French curriculum, Madam Quill made many meaningful connections with and lasting impacts on her students. Her love for teaching as well as her passion for nurturing her students has helped the Oakdale French community prosper.
