Continuing from the last installment…
To teach is to guide, and these teachers have fully committed themselves to teaching year after year with a heightened enthusiasm for their subject and their students. Their actions serve as guidance for their students, as well as guidance to any employed person who struggles to sustain passion for their job.
The next pair of teachers to be spotlighted are actually neighbors–within the school, of course. Mr. Tutt is nestled into the corner of E building alongside Mr. Mohler, already predisposing the pair to friendship which has bloomed. As well, both men teach math and Mr. Mohler’s class directly leads students into Mr. Tutt’s door. Mr. Tutt even gave the duo a title—the aging dinosaurs of education, commenting on their shared teaching years seeming larger than life, like a dinosaur.
Mr. Mohler has 36 years of teaching under his belt and currently teaches Algebra 3-4 Honors, a hard class in which students can opt to directly go to Calculus AB (Mr. Lang’s class) if they perform well. Essentially, it is two classes within the constraints of two semesters. While this seems discouraging, Mr. Mohler always finds ways to engage students with his teaching style.
Mohler used to be at the district office for four years, something which was a well-needed break that prevented burnout for him. “I was running the online high school and having that four year break helped because I discovered I would rather be working with kids than adults..because at least kids have an excuse,” he said.
It seems easier for Mohler to stay passionate as his love for math is deep-seated. “I’ve always loved math.” As time has gone on, his passion for teaching math has increased since he is more experienced. Mohler feels strongly about his career: “If you are going to do the job right, you have to be excited about it.”
It is obvious that his teaching style is well received and engages students. Mohler said, “The kids at Ridge are so great because they are appreciative. Almost every single day a kid thanks me for teaching them as they leave, and how could you not like that?”
To those unfamiliar with Mr. Mohler from his teaching, you may be familiar with his frequent appearances on the announcements with the repeated segment entitled “The 2 Daves.” When discussing how the idea came to be, Mr. Mohler said, “Mr. Vines and I both started the same year here at Ridge.” One simple clip of Vines and his guitar sprung the idea into Mr. Mohler’s head, who had run the announcements at another high school in the district, Barry Goldwater. Since then, the pair have demonstrated their shared musical talent on the announcements.
Mohler has been editing video clips well since 1999, a time when you needed two hard drives both for raw footage and the edited product. Since then, his expertise has only grown, as the editing process of the 2 Daves is entirely his work, a testament to keeping up with hobbies. As the topic of teaching editing arose, Mr. Mohler simply said with a smile, “I like doing what you know that I like doing.” He ventured on to say, “It might be fun, but I like doing the honors math.”
Tutt, similar to Mr. Lang, has spent his 29 years teaching here at Mountain Ridge high school, coming into the job during the second year of the school’s being open. He is teaching AP Calculus BC, the class which follows Mr. Lang’s, in addition to AP Macroeconomics. This means the majority of his classes are filled with seniors, sprinkled with the occasional juniors and sophomores.
On the topic of burnout, Tutt revealed that he has never felt burned out of teaching.
“I tell my graduating seniors every year to find something that you really love to do. It is so important – polls consistently show that north of 80+% of Americans dislike their jobs. How sad is that? So, it is really important to make the right career choice – we don’t always know, of course, but hopefully, people can find that eventually.”
Tutt does not just advise, but follows his own.
“I’ve done that – I love what I do, so I don’t ever really feel burned out. I started teaching at 29 after several years running my own small business. I started coaching high school basketball, on the side, at 20. I loved it, and decided I wanted to teach for a living. I don’t regret that choice for a second – I never have. It is the best professional decision I’ve made.”
Mr. Tutt does make sure to mention that time at home with his family most definitely helps him prevent from burning the candle at both ends.
Similar to Mr. Mohler and all of the longstanding teachers, Tutt’s interest for math is deeply rooted. “I’ve always loved math, from the very beginning of my schooling. I love teaching/coaching. I get a lot of satisfaction helping people achieve something they didn’t think was possible. Seeing students develop confidence in a subject or topic has always brought me great satisfaction.”
Through teaching AP Macroeconomics, Tutt transformed an interest in a subject into a passion. “I was interested in Economics before, but now I follow it with an eye on how to teach these everyday, important, real world issues to my students in order to make them more informed citizens, consumers, and voters.” Tutt views this class as a way to impact students on the cusp of adulthood and for that he is grateful. “I’m so glad that opportunity presented itself. I was in mid-career, so taking on another subject was a refreshing change. Now, I’ve got the best of both worlds teaching multiple subjects of personal interest.”
In a common trend, the students can boost the experience of teaching. “The students are everything. That’s why I’m here. I feed off of the energy I get from my students. I always have and it hasn’t dipped a bit in my 29 years. I like to keep things light, I like to have fun with them. It doesn’t need to be drudgery (for them or me). My hope is that my students can see how enthusiastic I am about the subjects I teach and maybe, just maybe, I am able to pass a little of that enthusiasm to my students.”
COVID-19 brought a plethora of problems, with after-effects rippling through the teaching community to this day. However, there are ways to avoid burnout and have a fulfilling career. These five teachers have led with an incredible passion for their subject, an action that can be felt by every student left in their care, and know how to capture student’s interests. Most importantly, each of these teachers have a definite answer to why they teach and understand their feelings on the subject, an answer which explains their longevity in the field.
