Douglass, David

Name: David Douglass
Department: English
Started at Blair in: 2004
Previous jobs: delivering pizza, radio show host during college, student-taught 8th grade, worked at Sylvan Learning Center, taught remedial reading to 4th to 7th graders
Hobbies: reading, playing guitar, coaching and playing baseball

David Douglass, a new teacher at Blair this year, is excited about teaching high school students for the first time. This year Douglass is teaching 10th grade English, Honors 12th grade English and 10th grade SPARC.

So far Douglass has enjoyed his experience at Blair. He feels that the school's staff and students work together to create a good experience for all. "Blair's great; [it's] an interesting learning environment," he says.

Douglass says that he enjoys teaching at Blair because the school has "a lot to offer." The activities and programs available to students help make Blair unique, he asserts. "Clubs, CAP and the academies add a lot to the school," he says.

Douglass, who went to a small school a quarter the size of Blair, says that the way such a large school can operate so effectively is remarkable. "To see a school this size running this smoothly is amazing to me," he says.

Douglass lived in a small town in Pennsylvania for most of his life. He went on to attend Penn State University- University Park, where he received a major in English and education.

His current interests are reading, playing guitar and planning his wedding. He says that initially he moved to Maryland from Pennsylvania to be near his fiancée, who is also a high school English teacher in Montgomery County.

Baseball is an extracurricular activity that Douglass would like to pursue sometime in the near future. Douglass says he has played baseball since he was four or five years old. He also played in college at Penn State and eventually seeks to coach a baseball team, whether he gets to help out Blair baseball or a local Little League team.

Douglass has held few jobs before teaching at Blair, but they were all related to teaching. He worked as a long term sub for 8th grade after he graduated. Douglass also worked at Sylvan Learning Center, where he taught remedial reading to 4th to 7th graders and SAT Prep classes.

Douglass' past jobs unrelated to education have included delivering pizza for four years during college, he says. He also had a spot on the student radio station for a few months at Penn State.

Douglass says that he likes teaching high school students much better than middle school students, partly because of the students' maturity level. "[High school] students have better abstract thinking skills [and] a more adult side," he says.

He also likes teaching high school better because high schools offer more variety in electives and have better scheduling, he says. "Middle school is a lot more restricted without block scheduling," says Douglass. He says that though he likes block scheduling because of the longer class time there is to work and learn, he's still adjusting to scheduling for 90 minute blocks.

Despite Douglass' adjustment to block scheduling, he says he is excited about working with high school students for the first time and looks forward to what the new school year will bring.