Teacher Appreciation: Mr. Lockhart in his Creative Classroom

I first met Mr. Lockhart in 7th grade when he was my practicum teacher at South East. Coming to English class in Middle School quickly became my favorite class knowing Mr. Lockhart and his goofy smile would be waiting to talk to the entire class individually about our days. He was the only practicum/student teacher that didn’t just sit in the corner taking notes and observing us like a hawk. Even when he was just beginning to teach it was clear that he was focused on having genuine relationships with each student and truly getting to know each one of us.

After a year of online school filled with teachers who knew absolutely nothing about me and logging into zoom classes for hours each day to do mind numbing assignments, I was so excited to return to in person classes. During orientation day I walked through my classes and was so excited to see Mr. Lockhart as my English 10 teacher. To be honest, I had completely lost interest in English class my Freshman year over zoom classes but all my enthusiasm and excitement for English came rushing back almost immediately when he started teaching again. 

Mr. Lockhart begins each day of class with silent reading while he plays themed jazz music to whatever the weather is outside. After silent reading we begin tales of triumph and woah – the class shares anything good or bad that happened over the course of the week and it eventually turns into a class discussion about a very niche subject.

Because of Mr. Lockhart’s efforts to connect with and inspire each student in his class, he’s motivated me to join many other English extracurricular activities. I joined journalism second trimester because I enjoyed writing so much due to Mr. Lockhart’s approach to teaching a class I used to dislike. I also joined the musical at City High right after we finished our Oedipus Rex unit during class. I enjoyed acting so much and getting into character. It felt like I could be a completely different person for a few minutes while I read lines from the play. 

Thank you Mr. Lockhart for inspiring me to do more than what’s required and for giving meaning to the word “student”.