Holly K. Hulewat, Credentialed English Teacher
Teaching Students
the Art of Language
Amazing Books

Death Comes for the Archbishop
by Willa Cather

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven
by Mitch Albom

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky

The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck

The House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne

My Antonia + O Pioneers!
by Willa Cather

On the Road
by Jack Kerouac

Embers
by Sandor Marai

Homebase
by Shawn Wong

"Areopagitica"
by John Milton

Death on The Nile
by Agatha Christie

Mrs. Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf

The Hunger Games Series
Suzanne Collins

All Quiet on the Western Front
by Eric Maria Remarque

Tuesdays with Morrie
by Mitch Albom

Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury

Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech

Sherlock Holmes Series:
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Leche
R. Zamora Linmark

The Pact
Jodi Picoult

The Maltese Falcon
Dashiell Hammett

In The Lake of The Woods
Tim O'Brien

Athletics: I'm an avid, advanced snowboarder, but this skill did not come naturally to me.  Learning how to carve by quickly maneuvering my back foot so that I was either on my heels or toes enjoying a controlled fall down a snowy grade was hard-earned by spending two seasons falling on my back and knees.  Snowboarding taught me grit and the importance of getting back up after a set back.  Now, I don't even look at whether a run is a black diamond or green dot; I can ride any mountain.

Why I Love Teaching English: I was not a strong student during my time in K-12, and a lot of that rested on my behind-grade-level reading skills.  I only understood this in retrospect when I later learned that demographically, the odds were against me: single-parent/single-income household where English was spoken as a second language.

A college professor turned all of that around for me when she taught me how to see the fine details authors carefully place in their writing like hidden gems.  A whole world opened up to me when I learned how to read between the lines of great literature, and found my own writing voice.  I love teaching English because I have the privilege to open this world up to my students long before they reach college.

© Holly Kristine Hulewat





Homewood Mountain, Lake Tahoe, CA
My Philosophy of Education

All Students Can Learn and Thrive from Academic Challenges
  • Despite circumstances, all students possess the ability to learn and grow in the classroom.
  • It is my duty as a teacher to differentiate instruction accordingly, and provide proper scaffolds for all students in order to ensure equal educational opportunities.
Balancing 21st Century Literacy with Traditional Texts and Concepts
  • Traditional texts and forms of obtaining English education are as relevant now as they ever were. In a world where our students may have to face aggressive, antagonistic competition, we must continue to study texts which promote ethics and humanism.
  • In order to compete in the coming job markets and economies, students need to obtain 21st Century Skills such as communicating in and comprehending different modern media.
  • Becoming an effective communicator and critical thinker is essential to all students no matter what profession or discipline they choose. Students need to study both traditional, classical texts and forms of composition as well as contemporary or vocational reading and writing in order to become adults who are well-educated in the art of language.
Community Outreach Helps Faculty and Staff Support Students
  • Parents and guardians have a stake in the academic and professional success of their posterity, and therefore have a right to be involved in their children’s education.
  • It is my job as a representative of the school and an agent for their children’s education to communicate with families and make them feel informed and involved.
  • I believe that just as we differentiate for students’ various needs, we can also differentiate for the families of our students and adjust to their circumstances in order to promote their involvement in their students’ studies.
  • I am willing to teach beyond my students, allowing education to be a community-wide achievement, not just a phenomenon that happens within classroom walls.

About Me

Background: I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where I was raised by my persevering mom and nurturing grandparents. My family is full of scientists and engineers, but my grandmother was an elementary school teacher in the Philippines. My grandmother and I are the only ones in my lineage who are teachers.

Fine Arts: In 2017, I fell back in love with my first love: ballet. After settling in to my teaching career and finally having some leisure time, I began taking classes and performing again through Bay Ballet Academy in San Jose, CA.  Studying ballet as an adult has expanded my comfort zone and fed my passion for learning.

​​I play the trumpet, piano, and French horn. When I moved to Davis to complete my degree, I was 2nd Chair French Horn for the Milpitas Community Concert Band.

I'm also trained in singing and dancing. In middle school and high school, I took lessons in ballet, jazz, Polynesian, opera, and show tunes, and participated in multiple plays per year between 7th and 11th grade. I was a huge theater bug in grade school which has transferred smoothly into my teaching styles.  I have recently returned to performing and am in rehearsals for Don Quixote.