Mr. Monson has been teaching for 12 years, eight of those being outside of Buffalo. He used to teach exclusively business classes at BHS, but this year, he teaches both history and business.Â
So what was his life like before being in Buffalo? When he first went to college, he had no idea what to pick for his major.
“People told me that the best way to make money was computer science, so I majored in it for two years, and I hated it,” Monson said.
Monson took one history class during his time majoring in computer science, and his professor saw potential in him, recommending he become a teacher instead of an engineer. Following the professor’s recommendation, Monson took an education class, and he loved it. He then switched his major to education, and thought more about being a teacher, although he still had a business minor.
“If I was gonna teach something, and if it was something I liked, [I knew] it would be history,” Monson said.
When he first came to Buffalo, he knew he wanted to teach here. At first, he went to the middle school, but because there were no openings there, he came to the high school.Â
“There were no openings for history teachers, but the interviewers encouraged history teachers to apply for business positions,” said Monson. “I was never trained to teach those classes, but the business community is so supportive.”
This year, Monson has transitioned to teaching history and business and finally gets to teach what’s familiar to him and what he finds interesting. However, ultimately, for Monson, teaching is about more than the subject. While he is happy to be back teaching history, what he really loves is just getting to teach.
“It’s nice to get into history now because I can go back into helping with projects and teaching something in my comfort zone,” Monson said. “[But], I don’t really care what I teach, as long as I teach.”
