Within the San Luis Obispo High School campus, there are nearly one hundred full-time teachers that advise the classrooms and its students. Expressions set out to ask a few SLOHS staff members some questions on their experience as a teacher on the San Luis Obispo High School campus.

Expressions: How long have you been a teacher?

English Teacher Jane Hawley: I have been a teacher for seven years. I taught three years of college writing at Texas State University before I came to teach English at San Luis Obispo High School. I’ve been a teacher here [SLOHS] for four years now.

Mathematics Teacher Kyle Fintel: I have been a teacher for fifteen years, eight of them at SLOHS.

Business/Computer Science Teacher Jan Fetcho: I have been a teacher since around 1982, so about thirty-seven years, twenty-six of them at SLOHS.

Expressions: What subjects do you teach?

Hawley: I teach AP English Language and Composition, Creative Writing, AVID, and English 12.

Fintel: I teach precalculus this year, but I have taught Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and precalculus before.

Fetcho: I teach computer science almost exclusively. I also run the apex courses and credit recovery courses.

Expressions: What requirements were necessary for you to become a teacher at SLOHS?

Hawley: Even though I majored in English and have a graduate degree, I also had to take and pass the CSET (California Subject Examinations for Teachers) exams, submit a teaching portfolio to the state, take a year of teaching credential classes, and do one year of student teaching.

Fintel: I needed a degree in mathematics, and I also needed a teaching credential, outside of that, those are the only legal requirements that I can remember. I had to do a health and criminal screening as well. 

Fetcho: You have to have a degree in something. From there, you have to take your teacher preparation courses, which take about a year, and then you need to do your student teaching, which takes two quarters [that is almost another year]. You also have to pass a couple of tests that the state requires.

Expressions: What is your favorite thing about being a teacher at SLOHS?

Hawley: My favorite part of teaching at SLOHS are the students and working with my fellow staff members. I became a teacher because I love to encourage others to achieve their goals.

Fintel: Honestly, it is working with the youth. If you treat students and kids well, they will often treat you well in return. Fetcho: My favorite part is when a student goes “ohhh I get it.”