New Teacher Profile: Mr. Crawford

A new teacher has joined the City High science department. Robert W. Crawford III will spend his first year at City High teaching Principles of Engineering and physics. Previously, he taught for four years at the College Community School District, and is eager for the 2018-2019 year at City High.

“The student population and the staff are outstanding. When I was coming back to go to school, I did all my volunteer time here. I got to know the other faculty members in the science department and a couple of the other departments,” Crawford said. “They’re just really student-centered and they care about what they do, and that attitude shows through.”

Crawford brings 20 years of experience as a biochemist at the University of Iowa to City. Crawford also teaches fitness classes, which contributed to his decision to transition to teaching high school students.

“I enjoyed working with people and passing on knowledge, and seeing them progress and grow based on my input,” Crawford said. “I liked that aspect of working in a lab, as well as when I was passing on techniques, training and seeing people use that to do really cool things. I thought as I was having conversations with some teacher friends of mine, ‘why not do it full time?’”

Outside of teaching, Crawford notes a plethora of interests, including woodworking, electronics, reading, fitness, computers, cooking, and miniature wargaming. When asked about his pet peeves in the classroom, he had just one answer.

“Cell phones,” Crawford said. “I think cell phones have done more harm than good to society. Read books, people.”

Crawford describes his general teaching philosophy as doing whatever is necessary to communicate content clearly to a diverse groups of students.

“I don’t think that everybody learns one way, so if you’ve gotta come at it from different angles, come at it from different angles,” Crawford said. “Try it until it works.”