When I tell you that Mr. Andrews was laid back, I don’t mean taking a nap instead of teaching, I mean taking 15 minutes at the start of class to talk about drama with the students, “give me … the Tea” He would say  He used it as a way to loosen us up a bit and put us in a good mood.  That time isn’t set in stone either.  The class could keep talking if we have things to talk about.  During class he would tell us stories about past students and go off on tangents that could last 10 minutes.  You’d think with all this time spent not learning our class would be behind on curriculum, but his students always learned the curriculum no matter what.

Mr. Andrews from Arrowhead High School is by far the teacher I’ve had the most fun with.  I’m not even an English guy, I just loved his class.  He treats every class like a stand up routine. This was all part of his plan to loosen us up so we could learn.  Everyone at least chuckled in their head at his jokes.  His class was the best place at Arrowhead to make friends. I still talk with the people I had his class with. 

Now Mr. Andrews was not only laid back enough to let us chat during class, so long as we did work, he also was laid back enough to give unorthodox assignments, due date extensions and help with quizzes.  I remember him giving a lecture one time while putting a ball into a cup on the other side of the room (Because of course Mr. Andrews just has a putter in class). The class asked if we could take the upcoming quiz with a partner, he said, “If you can make the ball in the cup.”  He gave five people two tries and the last person sank their put.  True to his word he let us take the quiz with partners. This is just one example of how his unorthodox teaching strategies resulted in a positive learning experience.

I’ve had many English classes where we just sit there every day, take notes, and then a quiz.  I’ve had classes where I didn’t talk to a single student in the class the whole semester.  Mr. Andrews was specifically against that, he is all about making his class have fun. He is a man with the confidence to be chill.

Mr. Andrews is a fantastic educator.  He puts making someone learn information on the backburner and puts all his effort into making sure that all his students feel comfortable and excited, then he uses this state of being to teach them things when they don’t even know it.

He made his class exceptionally easy, not by making the class less challenging but teaching in a way that requires no effort from the students, it’s called having a good time.