Teaching the next generation: celebrating AHS teachers

Varied teaching experiences at American in honor of World Teachers’ Day

Staff Writer

Beyond the brief introduction slide in the beginning of the year, students rarely learn more about their teachers’ experiences. Yet, Ms. Luong, the English 9H, 12CP, and Modern Poetry teacher advised, “Having rapport and a relationship with your students or being able to joke around inherently makes them more engaged with the material being taught.” Thus, it is incredibly important for students and teachers alike to learn more about different “teaching experiences,” from the reasons why they became teachers to the lessons that they have learned since.

For example, Señora Reid, Spanish 3 and AP teacher, detailed what subjects she had been drawn to teaching. “Spanish was always the first choice,” she said. “I did want to teach English, which I have taught during summer schools in the past.” She also explained why languages have always appealed to her. “What I love about English is that I can go over literature, stories, and poetry. It’s one of my goals to take advantage of AP Spanish and do that in a Spanish class. I want to delve into different stories and narratives.”

Ms. Luong explained the influence the media can have on defining the role of a teacher for her. “There are a lot of films in which teachers are monumental for the growth of students,” she said. “I watched Dead Poets Society when I was in high school, and I really admired Mr. Keating. I don’t think that I teach like him, per se. I don’t think I have the same demeanor. Yet, I think we both have the same purpose in teaching, which is to broaden students’ minds, as opposed to just teaching to the book, for example.”

Additionally, Ms. Reid described her career goals. “I want to grow more as a teacher,” she said. “We are learning at the same time we teach the students. I always learn new ways of teaching certain concepts that I did not realize before. So, even as a teacher, I am continuously learning with my students.”

According to Mr. Peffer, AP US History and AP Government/Economics teacher, he tries to take into account how his class may factor into a student’s life. “School may not be the most important thing in a student’s life. Sometimes we, as teachers, forget that there is stuff going on in people’s lives outside of the classroom,” he said. “I keep that in mind while I am teaching.”

With their years of experience, many teachers have gained insight into engaging students. “ I think lessons that are more interactive and allow the students to come to conclusions are more engaging than the very outdated model of a teacher filling in students’ brains with information and then testing them on it. I don’t think lecture tests are very engaging,” said Ms. Luong. “In my Modern Poetry class, it is more student-based learning which makes it more fun for them. It is less like a teacher lecturing students, and more so giving them the right prompts or questions to think about, that gets them to the understanding, as opposed to just giving them the answer.”

“Bringing things that have to do with students’ personal lives sometimes really helps to engage them,” added Ms. Reid. “It builds connections between what they experience daily and what they’re learning.”

Summarizing her role in students’ lives, Ms. Luong said, “Being a teacher goes so much beyond the content teaching that you do. We wear so many hats,” she said.

Caption: Ms. Luong looks ahead at material to cover in her Modern Poetry class while her students work on their assignment. “I spend so much time researching each era that we study, and knowing my students, I think about what kind of poems would engage them or which they may identify with,” she said. (PC: Tegbir Kaur (11))