With a love for grammar but a struggle to focus on reading, this Galileo educator’s path to teaching wasn’t always straightforward. From Halloween-themed weddings to surprising coffee habits, they share what makes their life unique, why teaching IB courses is a rewarding challenge, and how they keep students engaged in and out of the classroom. Get to know the teacher who’s just as likely to avoid you at the grocery store as they are to play rock, paper, scissors.
What was your least favorite subject in school?
Probably English class. Not because of the grammar. I was always a big fan of grammar. But I had a hard time focusing on any kind of reading assignments. So anytime that we had to read a book, that was a little bit challenging for me.
What’s something about you that you don’t think your students would expect?
I drink like a gallon of milk a day. That’s something that’s probably surprising to a lot of people. And that I measure the amount of sugar I put in my coffee, and it’s about 150 to 175 grams of sugar in one of my cups of coffee that I do every morning. Which equates to like 750-800 calories just in my coffee each morning. I think people do know I have a sugar problem though.
Out of all your time teaching, what do you think your best decision was?
My best decision was probably deciding to teach IB. I’ve enjoyed the material a lot more. It’s a lot more detailed than the freshman biology class and it’s more of a challenge for me, which makes it a little more interesting and rewarding as well.
If you weren’t a teacher what would you be?
Hopefully retired, sitting on a beach somewhere just relaxing all the time. But if I had to do another career, I did work as a researcher before becoming a teacher, and that was kind of fun some of the days. So I could probably go back to working in a lab if I needed to do that or focus on my real estate business.
What is one important thing you want all your students to know?
I want my students to know and to learn what works best for them. Too many students don’t know how to learn. They try to but whatever they’re doing isn’t necessarily working for them. And what works for me may not work for them. So they have to figure it out, and this takes time on their own to learn. It took me until college to figure this out. Each person has a unique way to learn and the sooner you as an individual can figure that out, the better off you’re going to be.
After they graduated, what was the best or craziest interaction you’ve had with a past student?
I still keep up with a lot of my former students. I run into them all the time, but one thing that normally happens when I run into somebody, and it’s kind of weird for anybody in public who runs into this. It’ll be like at Food Lion or somewhere else, and then someone will be like, hey Carter, and they immediately put their hands up for rock, paper, scissors. So it’s just a random game of rock, paper, scissors in the middle of Food Lion or a restaurant, anything like that, and it’s weird and awkward to everybody around, but to me and that student, it makes sense.
Describe your experience with Galileo in one sentence?
My experience at Galileo has lasted for a very long time and it has been pretty awesome.
What is one thing that students do or can do that makes your day just that much better?
Being engaging in class. I enjoy discussions, and questions, and people actually being interested in it. So if they’re engaging and the whole class is together and all that. It makes the class so much better. Much better than me just talking to a desk.
If you had to sponsor a new club what would you want it to be and why?
My free time is limited as everybody knows. But I think some kind of, like a horror club or Halloween club, ghost hunting. I mean, I feel like we got some options in there. I mean, it is spooky season right now, so that would be kind of fun.
If you were granted one wish from a genie (standard wish rules apply) what would your wish be?
Eternal youth as an immortal. You know, just live forever but never age. Like a vampire, but I like the sunlight.
Do you have a favorite story to tell about your life?
My wedding was pretty interesting. It was on Halloween, during a full moon, four years ago now. I have to remember to get my wife an anniversary present. And, I was carried down the aisle. We got married outside. And we had everything decorated like a graveyard. So I was carried through the graveyard on a stretcher inside of a body bag by the groomsmen and all those people. To the Undertaker’s theme song. So yeah, my wedding was very not traditional at all, but a lot of fun, awesome time.
How do you react when running into students outside of school?
Depends on the student. Sometimes I hide. I’ll be like, oh no, let me duck behind this aisle of food right here. And other times it’s rock, paper, scissors, you know. But a lot of times, as current students, I typically hide. Former students, I’m normally more open to seeing them.
How would you react if a student started calling you by your first name?
Well, nobody calls me Wyatt. That’s just weird. And Lee, it wouldn’t bother me any. I’m not somebody that’s too particular about what I’m called. But most of the time people just say Carter and it just kind of flows and it works.
Out of all the staff members at Galileo, who would you like to have in your class?
Mr. Medlin occasionally joins in on some of my classes and listens and learns, but Smith would probably make it more interesting just because his thought process is very unconventional. And I do typically enjoy some crazy thoughts and ideas and discussions like that.
Out of all the staff at Galileo, who would you be interested in reading an interview like this on? Who do you think the student body should get to know better?
I don’t know if I could pick just one person. I’m really looking forward to reading all of these. You know, there’s a lot of things about people that you don’t know, and it’s just fun to learn about everybody.
