Mr. Ryan O’Donnell, a prominent member of the RHS staff, is teaching Advanced Geography for the first time during the 2013-2014 school year.  In addition to teaching an entirely new course, O’Donnell shares his thoughts on the task of teaching six different classes as well as coaching football.

Q:  How many different courses are you teaching this year?  How many periods of each?

A:  I’m teaching two Advanced Geography, two AP World History, one Web Design I, one Web Design 3, one Mass Media, and one Digital Storytelling.

Q:  Is there any course in particular that you really enjoy teaching?

A:  My passion has always been AP World History, but I find each course enjoyable and interesting.

Q:  How is teaching AP World different this year now that you share classes with Mrs. (Amanda) Kenitzer?

A:  I’ve never really collaborated with another teacher until this year, and it’s been neat to share ideas and work with each other.  We’re also working with the AP World teachers over at Whitney.

Q:  Are the two of you planning on teaching the same exact curriculum?

A:  Yes, we are trying to.  We meet every two weeks to be aligned with our curriculum.

Q:  How do you feel about teaching freshman geography for the first time?

A:  Well, they’re a lot shorter.  Some of them haven’t hit their growth spurts yet.  They’re different than my Mass Media students, because I only have them for a quarter.  I think I’ve gotten to know my geography students better than any of my other classes.

Q:  Have you worked with freshmen before this year?

A:  I’ve only worked with freshmen in Mass Media, where I only have them for a quarter.

Q:  How is teaching freshmen different than teaching the sophomores and juniors that you are used to?

A:  As I said, they’re a lot shorter, and they lack a lot of background knowledge concerning world affairs.

Q:  Do you find your job more difficult this year?

A:  Teaching and coaching football has become very time consuming.

So far, O’Donnell has managed to stay on top of teaching, coaching football, and even orchestrating the new technical changes around RHS such as the new website and schoology. Facilitating technological changes for the RHS student body as well as adjusting to changes within his own teaching routine is bound to be difficult, but O’Donnell is being patient, as should the rest of the RHS student body and faculty.