About John Pennisi

John Pennisi recently began his 17 th year as a classroom English teacher. He has taught both middle school and high school at private schools in Maryland and Virginia. Currently, he serves as a Middle School English Teacher and the Upper School Dean of Students at Wakefield School in The Plains, Virginia.

John holds both a B.S. in Biology from Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina, and an M.A. in English Literature and Composition from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He is currently working toward completing a professional sequence in technical communication from the University of California, Berkeley.

In addition to teaching, John has also coached boys and girls basketball for many years, including an assistant coaching position with the varsity boys basketball program at St. Mary’s
Ryken High School in Leonardtown, Maryland (a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference school). He has been an English Department Chair. He has earned teaching awards from the
Archdiocese of Washington; Johns Hopkins; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and Stanford University. He has founded chapters of the Interact Club (a Rotary Club-sponsored
community service organization) at both his current and previous schools.

John has published poetry in both the Santa Clara Review and Politics and Prose’s anthology District Lines. He enjoys watching college basketball, reading, writing, and spending time with his nephews. He lives in northern Virginia.