Teacher Spotlight: Mr. Lopez

I got an opportunity to do a spotlight sit-down interview with my 8th-grade Advanced US History teacher, Mr. Lopez. I enjoyed his class very much, so it was a great pleasure to interview him. He is one of our Social Studies teachers at Mayfair, and I had a chance to ask him a handful of questions about himself, his personal life, and work life.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

A: My name is Mr. Lopez, and I am a Social Studies teacher here at Mayfair. I teach 8th grade history for middle school and I currently teach 12th grade AP Government for seniors. I have taught a lot of other subjects here at Mayfair, like Economics, 7th grade History, and even geography, but those two subjects are the ones I'm currently teaching.

Q: How long have you been a teacher at Mayfair?

A: This is my 11th year here. But this is the only school I have worked at. I have worked at other schools as a substitute, but as far as being a full-time teacher, Mayfair is the first school. 

Q: When you were younger, what career did you imagine having?

A: I think when I was maybe in middle school or high school, I jumped around a lot. I had a lot of things I wanted to do. I wanted to be a chiropractor for a while, then I wanted to be a physical therapist. I was into fitness and health, so I wanted to go into that field. But I didn’t. 

Q: Do you know when that change happened?

A: Probably once I went back to school. When I graduated out of high school, I did not go straight into college. I worked as a personal trainer for a little while, and that was a good job because I got paid decently, more than most of my 18-19 year old friends at the time. But it wasn’t something I wanted to do for very long, so I went back to school, and instead of really getting interested in the sciences and the subjects that would be related to health and fitness, I got more interested in Social Studies. I took an Anthropology class that I really liked, and a History class that I really liked. I decided while I was in my first or second year of college that I would change my emphasis from Health and Fitness to Social Studies. I needed to figure out a job that I could get with a background in Social Studies because if you study history and stuff like that, what are you going to do with a history degree? Teaching was the thing you would do if you were interested in Social Studies. You know, I thought, ‘Well, I love teaching.’ The thing I really wanted to do was teach at a community college because I felt like community colleges were really cool. The material is hard because it's college, but you are also helping kids that really don’t know where to go, whereas you go to university students and they all know what they are majoring in–they all know where they are going. But in community college, there's still some uncertainty in the student body about what they want to do with their lives. But then I found out that it was very hard to find a career at the community colleges; it was very difficult to land a full-time job, so middle school and high school became the option for me to have more of a career. So, I went that route.

Q: What are some hobbies or activities you enjoy doing outside of work, and how did you get interested in them?

A: I like to play guitar; I’ve been playing guitar probably since middle school. I like to hang out with my son; we swim and go on bike rides. Things like that. I got interested in guitar probably because of the music I was listening to at the time – guitar-driven music – so that kind of got me interested in starting to start playing. Swimming and bike riding with my son came about because my son is not super interested in a lot of things, but those are two things that he is interested in, so I got interested in them too.

Q. Now that we are on that topic, what is your favorite genre of music, artist, and song?

A: Oh man, I don’t know if I have a favorite artist or song; maybe I do. I like anything that is guitar-driven. I like everything from American Blues music, like B.B. King and Albert King and stuff like that. All the way to the other side of the spectrum is like heavy metal. I liked it when I was your age, and I still like it today. I guess more old-school heavy metal bands. I love The Strokes. I would definitely put them in my top favorite bands. 

Q: What jobs or experiences did you have before joining Mayfair, and what did you learn from those experiences?

A: So many. So, as I mentioned before, I was a personal trainer when I was 18-19 years old. I’ve worked at blue-collar jobs like a sheet metal shop, which is just kind of outside work with your hands. But I have also worked indoors where you're expected to wear a tie. I’ve worked at Wells Fargo before; I've worked at pizza parlors; I’ve worked at Sizzlers, a cigar store at the mall (which is weird because I was like 16 or 17 at the time). But that was what I was doing; I needed a job. From these experiences, I’ve learned how to deal with people, with customers. A lot of my jobs when I was younger were in customer service, so dealing with customers face to face. And realizing that not everybody is like you, how to deal with people who are different from you and have different personalities.

Q: What originally interested you in working at Mayfair and what made you decide to apply?

A: Well, I have to be honest, when I got a job at Mayfair, there weren't too many jobs out there in education, so I was really just looking for whatever was out there, and Mayfair called me, so I ran to it. But the thing that really attracted me once I got here and once I started interviewing and walking around and being introduced to people was the staff. The staff here is really great. The other teachers, especially in the middle school, are a very tight-knit group. They are all friends, and I love that because we are all very supportive of one another, and we help each other out. And it is great to work at a job where people are looking out for each other. People are supporting each other. Because if you don’t have that, a job can be pretty boring and pretty tedious, where you don’t want to be there all the time. 

Q: What is something you wish you had known about this job or working in education in general before you started?

A: I guess I would say just more knowledge on managing a classroom. There’s only so much they can teach you in school; you kind of have to get in and do it. So teaching is one of those jobs where you kind of learn on the job. There is only so much you learn at university about learning how to be a teacher. You have to really be here and manage students and practice your skill at managing a class. 

Q: What do you enjoy most about working at Mayfair, and is there a particular moment or experience that stands out to you?

A: The staff and the students. That staff, that community of middle school teachers, and the students can be really great. It can be fulfilling to teach a group of students who are fun and willing to learn. Last year, I taught AP Government for the first time, and at the end of the year the students took a test. At the beginning of this year, we got the results of the test, and my class had a 96% pass rate. Which is great for any teacher but especially impressive for a first-year teacher. I was very proud of my students. I’ve been getting a lot of congratulations on that.

Q: Lastly, what is one interesting or unexpected fact about you that students at Mayfair might be surprised to learn?

A: Maybe that I listen to Heavy Metal music. I feel like I don't look like it. I don't really dress the part because I’m 46. But the truth is I like all sorts of music; that’s just one genre I enjoy. But yeah, that might be a surprise to students.

Thank you Mr. Lopez very much for allowing me to interview you. You were my favorite teacher last year, and I appreciate you taking the time to share a little bit about yourself. I hope to be able to speak to you again soon! 

Image Courtesy of Ian Collado.