GET TO KN the District Team
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5 Things You Should Know about Baldwin Science Teacher David Spahr
After more than 50 years of teaching, 2016-17 marked David Spahr GET’ s final year at TO Baldwin High KN School. Mr. Spahr Whas been a fixture BWSD in Baldwin Alumni
’ s classrooms since the 1960s, teaching mathematics, chemistry, and physics to several generations of students. In honor of his five decades of service, here are five things you may not know about Baldwin’ s beloved Mr. Spahr: aldwin-Whitehall BALDWIN-WHITEHALL SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
He came to Baldwin in 1966, but his very first teaching position was at his hometown high school.“ I first started teaching shortly after Sputnik went up,” says Mr. Spahr, who will turn 80 this year.“ At that time, the concern was that the Russians beat [ the U. S.] into space because we had a failure in secondary education.” America’ s renewed focus on math and science during the space race of the 1960s helped shape the path of Mr. Spahr’ s career. Although he taught science, his own passion for learning can be traced back to his 4th grade teacher’ s personal investment in his success.“ When I was in the 4th grade,” says Mr. Spahr,“ I was either sick or away when our class started history and geography, so I missed it. When I came back, Miss Harrison walked me through it personally. As soon as I started reading those books and studying those maps, I loved it.” That spark of excitement can still be felt in every lesson Mr. Spahr teaches, often including historical and cultural facts to provide students with a real-world context for scientific theories and data. He’ s seen student interest in science rise and fall dramatically over the years. Spahr believes America’ s changing focuses and values, from Vietnam in the‘ 60s through the rise of Wall Street in the‘ 80s, led to a growing disinterest in science and lab work in favor of other career pursuits.“ It’ s not as bad today as it was in the late‘ 70s into the‘ 90s, but even college math and science courses aren’ t as rigorous as they were in the‘ 60s. Parents seem more interested in making sure their kids get the grades to get into good colleges than they are in making sure their kids are learning, and students are less interested in doing real physics or learning how and why the world works the way it does and more interested in worksheets and fill-in-the-blank assignments.” But sometimes a resurgence in student interest comes from unexpected influences.“ When CSI became a popular TV show, a lot of students decided they wanted to study forensics.” Granted, that was a move towards biology and away from physics and chemistry, but Mr. Spahr will take that over a disinterest in science any day.
His favorite teaching memories have been the moments when he helped change the way a student sees the world. Thinking back on his many students, Mr. Spahr says,“ I believe I had a very good run. I remember one student in particular asked a question about a problem. I asked him,‘ If you had to solve this problem, where would you start? Do you have an idea?’ He did. And so we worked backwards through it and eventually he got it. And at the end, he told me,‘ I want to learn how to think like that.’ Another past graduate who’ s now a med student emailed me and he told me he credits his success to how I ran my class, with the constant pressure to think and do well. I think those things helped him, but I was only one of many influences on his life. Other people were also feeding and guiding him. Throughout my career, I couldn’ t have done anything on my own. I was always part of a team.” Mr. Spahr’ s next move may be along a different branch of science altogether. When asked about his plans after retirement, Mr. Spahr admits he doesn’ t have a clear plan just yet … but he does have an interest.“ When we moved into this house,” he says of himself and his wife, Dee,“ I started planting flowers, and I really like it. Now every February I start planting seeds in my basement to get them ready for spring.”
David Spahr may no longer be regaling students with his hybrid lessons of science and history, but his self-taught green thumb just might lead him to a new role as an expert in botany.
Get to Know the District Team will feature five things to learn about a Baldwin-Whitehall School District employee in each issue.
SPECIAL NOTICE Calling all family historians! We have a collection of original birth and baptismal certificates for some BHS graduates who were born between 1935 and 1953. If you are interested in collecting a piece of your family’ s history, please contact Linda Thompson at lthompson @ bwschools. net or at 412.885.7500 x8021.
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