A True English-man

Let's be real. Experience is invaluable.

Any of you who have read my last few posts know that I foster a pretty deep passion for all things english-particularly writing. I relish the free expression and extension of one's identity that contributes to a written piece, and the passion that fuses with intellect to create a personalized experience for the reader found therein. So, for my mentor interview, I decided to talk to someone who has lived out both my desire to write and my career goal of high-school teaching: Mr. Hurrianko, my tenth grade english teacher and, now, friend. Though our relationship began as student-pupil, it quickly morphed into a sudo-rivalry in table tennis, the club of which I ran on my high school campus under his supervision. Today, we maintain a friendship and still get together on occasion when I'm back in my hometown of Rocklin. Ordinarily, I would intersperse his dialogue with snippets of my own and/or not-so-clever commentary, but here I think I want to let his experience speak for itself; he has a pretty awesome story, and one that I don't think I could improve upon if I tried.

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What plans did you have for the future when you were in college?

“I had no idea I’d be a high school teacher in college; in fact, I would have laughed and poo-pooed the idea. I had wanted to become a writer and go into reporting, but was told by a lot of editors under the table that being a white male would be very, very difficult for me to get a job as a reporter, so I went with the editing route because nobody wanted to sit down and pick through people’s writing all day, so it was more readily available. I thought I’d get my foot in the door that way and then switch over [to reporting], but I kept moving up the management chain, making way more than I would have made in a reporting position. You just reach a point where you have to ask yourself ‘Okay, do I want to slide back into poverty?’

When did the switch from journalism to education happen?

“I was just working at [the newspaper] and trying to look for a house in the Bay Area, which is very expensive. So I started looking for a second job that would fit my schedule, and substitute teaching fit that bill. I started up in Sacramento, which I didn’t mind, I actually kind of enjoyed it, and once I started doing it I fell in love with it. Soon, I reached a point where I was like ‘You know, I’m kind of changed,’ so I made the switch.”

Was switching to education more for a love of teaching or a desire to leave journalism?

“It was a combination of both. It was becoming clear that the model of journalism that I had known was going away; the days of trained journalists was fast-fading with the internet coming around. I was around during that time with the newspaper and it was pretty clear that digital journalism was taking over, so you didn’t really have to be trained or have a degree, everything was just being pushed online and journalism was already starting to suffer. That’s part of the reason why I got out two weeks before [The Sacramento Union newspaper] closed. It just seemed like the prospects for journalism were decreasing, the teaching job was very enjoyable and rewarding, and even though it was something I hadn’t planned on, God made it very clear that teaching was where I needed to be.”

What did your road practically look like from journalism to full-time teaching?

“I was subbing in three districts (Livermore primarily), and was going back to school to get my teaching credential, subbing just to keep myself alive. I just started to get opportunities and God started to roll the red carpet out in front of me. I got paid student teaching positions at two different places, which is really rare-typically you have to volunteer your time for those positions. I had a friend who knew me from my credentialing classes and he needed a summer school teacher. They weren’t having any luck finding someone to control their class, which was pretty unruly, so I came in and was able to get them turned around. The principal was so impressed that he gave my name to a middle school principal who gave me my first teaching job. I was there for three months to replace an english teacher who was on maternity leave. That was kind of a cool experience because when the students found out that I was leaving they all signed a petition to keep me on as a teacher, which I kept. They wrote it all on binder paper; I hung on to it. I always thought I’d stick with middle school teaching, but that principal parked me over at the high school after I finished a student teaching position there. After I was there for a year, I got a call from Rocklin High School, who said they had a permanent position open, and back home [in Rocklin] my parents were getting older and needed help. It was a tough decision, but after praying about it I followed Him up there again.”

What skills transferred over from your journalism job to teaching?

“The journalism job gave me a lot of great practice with reading carefully and quickly, since a lot of times reporters will come in right before deadlines and you have to read their stories over for accuracy and edit them within minutes to get them out in time. Reading quickly and accurately was something I had to practice every night, which has been great for grading papers. Additionally, my police training was very helpful for teaching as well, from years earlier when I was trying to be a police officer. That was great since it taught me to be observant of my surroundings, which a lot of teachers aren’t, and to know what to look out for in a crowd.”

What do you think your strengths are as an educator?

“I think self-awareness is a very important skill to learn: trying to notice when you’re just going through the doldrums and the motions. I also think that I set the bar high for students; setting goals that are achievable, but not easy, is very important, because that’s where growth comes from. In most education they dial down the curriculum to the lowest common denominator. I try to recognize that and try to bring rigor into the curriculum that’s not too outrageously hard but does make students stretch. Also, I do care about all my students. They don’t always pick up on that because of the rigor, but I think that’s recognized later on when they can say ‘Oh my gosh, that guy was trying to make me better; he wasn’t just trying to torture me.’ You’re going to find that teaching is a weird profession because it has a built-in reward for not doing your job. If you want to just be a teacher who goes in and pals around with your students all day, gives them very few assignments, and gives them A’s for sleeping and staying on the phone, they’ll love you because you’re the cool teacher who doesn’t hassle them, the parents will love you because the kids are getting A’s, and the administration will love you because there’s no conflict, which comes naturally [otherwise]. To do your job well, you have to be willing to put up with some abuse and negative responsibility. You have to be willing to accept that as part of the job.”

What are some areas you want to grow as an educator??

“Keeping in mind the need for improvement is a constant challenge, struggling with thinking, ‘I’m a veteran teacher; I can handle this.’ A lot of times I need to recognize that I have to remember what it’s like from a student’s standpoint, and not lose sight that, no matter what, they’re still people and deserve respect and love. It’s difficult to separate work performance from the fact that they’re people, but as individuals, they still deserve my attention, respect, and effort.”

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There you have it. I feel obligated to give a cliché wrap-up debrief-thingy after all that dialogue, so here goes:

Experience is invaluable. Let's be real.

(Yes...that's all I had in me)