About Lit Think

How It All Started

When Alicia and Sarah met in the fall of 2011, they were each in very different places in their lives and teaching careers. They both started teaching at the same school in the same year, but Alicia was a rookie fresh out of her undergrad studies and Sarah was a nine-year teaching veteran, second-year grad student, and mother to a toddler and newborn. Over the next two years, the newbie and the classroom vet navigated the challenges and politics of a new school, while collaborating on curriculum and their combined lives. Even when they stopped teaching the same course, they continued their partnership, often walking into the other’s room to share ideas, ask questions, and challenge the other to consider a new perspective.

Their friendship and collaboration have survived both women moving away from Northeast Indiana and starting new lives 1000 miles apart.

In the spring of 2021, while Sarah was contemplating next steps in her teaching career, they finally discovered a project that would possibly allow them to collaborate again in a tangible and productive space. They could do what they often did when new movies and television shows came out (analyze them through their teacher brains), only now they would record their conversations and intentionally connect them to literary study, doing what they often do with their students as they attempt to make classic literature relevant to 21st-century teenagers.

And So Lit Think Was Born

Now Alicia and Sarah meet twice a month to discuss media old and new and use their experience as English teachers to drive the conversation. Their mission is to show that the skills learned in the English classroom can and should be used to help us think critically about what we read and watch on a regular basis, and that critical approach enhances our appreciation.

We believe that every piece of writing has a purpose, every story is connected, and ultimately language is at the core of every human experience.


Our Introduction Podcast

Chapter 1.1 – The Beginning Lit Think Podcast

In their first podcast episode, Alicia Drier and Sarah Styf talk about their teaching careers, their friendship, and their hopes for the podcast. Listen in to learn more about the women behind the mics and the way their English brains see everything they read, watch, and listen to.Bonus? They reveal the things that they should love as English teachers, but honestly don't.Sign up for the newsletter and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.Music by Craig HarmannCover art by Matt Holman This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit litthinkpodcast.substack.com

Other Places You Can Find Us

Will This Be On the Test? Teacher Pod Episode #11