For six years, Mark Monteith led the Duncan Middle School choir with resounding success before leaving DMS for a new job and new challenges.
Monteith is back at DMS this year. However, he is no longer leading choir; instead, he is teaching a life management class.
“I feel that I belong in the classroom to teach daily instead of every now and then,” Monteith said. “Most of the new things at DMS are new faces as well as procedure changes. I think most of them are positive changes, and I think it will be a good year, although of course I have a couple of goobers.”
Life management is one of the new elective classes at DMS, which also includes weightlifting. As such, Monteith gets to work with sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students.
Caylyn Jarboe, an eighth-grader at DMS, is in Monteith’s class. Jarboe is excited to have him as a teacher.
” I like him,” Jarboe said. “He is one of my favorite teachers.
She said the class teaches student life skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.
“We sometimes will do sewing, which is another thing that me as well as my classmates look forward to learning about in life management,” Jarboe said.
Sixth-grade student Lola Ibarra had similar thoughts.
“I think Mr. Monteith is a great teacher,” Ibarra said. “His teaching strategy is very interesting, and that while he isn’t strict, he will get you in trouble if needed. He is definitely not like any other teacher that I have ever had, and I really hope that I will get him next year when I am in the seventh grade.”
Monteith is one of several teachers returning to DMS this year. Others include Coach Grant Givens, computer teacher Katherine Jeffords and science teacher Colby Snider.
For Monteith, the return to DMS is something to celebrate.
“Principal Christy Glasscock came to me and asked me to teach an elective here at DMS,” he said. “I wanted to teach a class for things that you would need to know, like kitchen basics, gardening and how to change a car’s oil.”
