English Department Head and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Sravani Sen-Das taught at schools in India and England prior to joining the Groton faculty in 1999. Within her field, she has a special interest in classic modern literature, especially the works of James Joyce. Sravani has taught at all levels—from Second to Sixth Form—since her arrival; she currently teaches Fifth Form English and offers electives on T.S. Eliot’s Waste Land and on “reading" classic film. Sravani has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Delhi, as well as a master’s in English from the University of London and a PGCE from Oxford University. She lives on campus with her husband Nishad, a mathematics teacher and director of Global Education, and her three children, Zahin ’16, Ishana ’19, and Vivan.

John Capen joined Groton’s English department in 1999. Prior to teaching at Groton, John taught in Japan, Oregon, and Maine. In addition to teaching courses in literature and creative writing, he advises the School's literary magazine, The Grotonian, and previously has advised the newspaper, The Circle Voice,  John currently coaches boys cross country and squash. He has coached JV soccer, directed plays, and ran an Upper School dorm.

John has a BA from Haverford College, an MA from the Bread Loaf School of English, and a M.Ed from Harvard University. John loves to travel with his wife and children.  During his recent sabbatical, they visited colleagues and friends in the Philippines, India, Istanbul, Morocco, and France.  This active and traveling lifestyle sheds some light on another of John’s passions, running marathons, which has taken him to some of his favorite locations in Boston, Mount Desert Island, and Rome.

Peter Fry joined the Groton faculty in 2005 after working at schools in Ohio, Vermont, Morocco, and Maryland. As an English teacher, Peter works with third, fifth, and sixth formers, taking great pleasure in helping his students to become more skilled writers and more attentive readers. Peter has a special interest in 19th-century British fiction and offers an elective each year in that area. His decision to pursue a career in boarding school education owes much to his own experience as a student at Exeter, where he was profoundly influenced by inspiring teachers and coaches. As an undergraduate at Yale, Peter majored in History of Art, played rugby, and sang with the Whiffenpoofs. Spending two years in Vermont earning a master’s degree in English and Education at UVM enabled Peter to combine his professional interests with his love of the outdoors and the New England landscape. An avid runner, hiker, and cyclist, Peter appreciates the natural beauty of Groton’s campus and its extensive network of surrounding wooded trails.

English teacher Ted Goodrich has taught a variety of classes since arriving at Groton in 1998, including Third, Fifth, and Sixth Form English, expository writing, and a host of electives including his renowned course on Moby Dick, a book he says has “spoken to me since high school.” In the afternoons, Ted coaches varsity soccer and heads Groton’s winter running program, which culminates in a half-marathon each February. He previously ran a dorm and currently participates on many school committees. Ted holds Groton's Malcolm Strachan Chair of English Literature.

Ted has a bachelor’s from Colby College and a master’s from the Bread Loaf School of English. He spends his summers on Cuttyhunk Island, a tiny island (about 1.5 miles long) between New Bedford and Martha's Vineyard, where he fishes from a surf dory that he rows along the Buzzard's Bay side of the island at night. He most often fishes right where the last whaling ship out of New Bedford wrecked on a reef in August 1924. During the school year, Ted lives on campus with his wife and children.

Martha Gracey teaches English, coaches field hockey and lacrosse, and serves on a variety of committees that benefit from her long-time involvement in boarding schools. Her passion in the classroom is American Literature, ranging from Southern writers, such as Twain, Faulkner, and Welty, to New England writers, including Dickinson, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Frost. What resonates for her about teaching literature is that, as Frost said, it “provides a clarification of life . . . a momentary stay against confusion.”

English teacher Jake Kohn grew up and attended college in the San Francisco Bay area. Jake, who worked as a teaching fellow at Phillips Academy, Andover, believes that the subject of English can teach us not only to communicate better but also to experience the world in a more thoughtful and more profound light. Jake holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Stanford University, and his scholarly interests include modern American short fiction, poetry, and song lyrics. He enjoys exploring pop culture with the same seriousness and depth often reserved for the classics of literature and philosophy.

Having emigrated from her native South Africa, Vuyelwa came to Groton by way of Gaborone, Botswana; Bronx, New York; and Andover, Massachusetts. She earned her BA at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, with a double major in English and psychology. She completed a higher diploma in education and an honors in African Literature from the University of Witwatersrand, and later continued her studies at Lesley University, subsequently earning a master's in education.

Ellen Rennard came to Groton School in 2003 after teaching for many years in Tucson, St. Louis, and Albuquerque. A published writer of poetry, essays, and book reviews, Ellen especially enjoys helping her students to develop their writing skills. She also loves to travel and lived in Jordan for two years. She has a BA from Princeton University and an MA from the Bread Loaf School of English.
 
Ellen brings her love of books and her skills as a photographer to her position as yearbook advisor at Groton. Her photographs have appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications. Her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren live in London.

Christopher Wade teaches Third and Fifth Form English; coaches boys varsity soccer and track; and is an Upper School dorm head. Before arriving at Groton, he taught at both public and private schools across Massachusetts. Chris studied Russian literature, creative writing, and philosophy at Wesleyan University and currently is pursuing an MA from the Bread Loaf School of English. His favorite texts in the English classroom, both as a graduate student and a teacher, challenge the boundaries of reality and consciousness, often grounded in the traditions of weird fiction, magical realism, and Gothic literature. Chris loves that he learns something new every day as a teacher, whether that be about the text at hand, about his students, or about himself.