David Poole, better known as Sr. Poole, is completing his forty-second and final year of teaching Spanish. At the age of 64, he has announced his retirement.

His teaching journey began during his senior year of high school. He initially planned on majoring history, but after reading a list of majors and noticing Spanish was on the list, he felt confident and gave it a go.

“I wasn’t really thinking about being a teacher until probably my [college] sophomore year. I was just going to major in Spanish, maybe be an interpreter or something, but that is how I decided. I was like ‘Okay. Well, I’m good at it and I like it, so let’s just do it,’” Poole said.

Poole spent the first 12 years of his career teaching Spanish I and exploratory Spanish at Keith Junior High School. He was asked to toughen up’ the Spanish curriculum and began teaching three and AP spanish. His first day teaching AP spanish he started out with 34 students in his class and by the second day he had 19.  He said he immediately noticed a difference between junior high and high school students,

“I remember the first time I turned around to write something on the board and the room was totally silent. I thought ‘did they leave and I didn’t see it?’ because the maturity just in those couple of years… was quite a difference,” Poole said.

Having gained a lot of teaching experience he is able to give advice to those currently teaching and those wanting to take that career path. He believes you have to understand kids and understand the world today. He recognizes that times have changed since he has begun teaching in terms of student behavior and technology.

“Technology has certainly changed the world and I think you have to be very aware that teenagers today have more issues. There are so many more things that bombard them.Technology has opened that up, you know cyberbullying. That didn’t exist when I started teaching or the openness of society is different than it had been,” Poole said.

He also believes teachers should understand the current home situation students now deal with, including the new culture.

Poole has spent a lot of time at the school. He admitted that yes it is work, but he has enjoyed it . He has never felt that he did not like his job, but admits he does not like grading papers, laughing and pointing to a stack of his classes papers piled on top of his desk.

“The day-to-day interaction with kids is what makes it so enjoyable, frustrating at times, but overall I enjoy what I’ve done. I enjoy teaching the grammar, the culture, and the history, and all of the things I have learned over the years it is just so great to be able to share that with kids,” Poole said.

He hopes that students continue to have an impression of the culture of the spanish language and the history, realizing how ‘rich’ it really is.

From being a teacher he said he has learned to become more patient and kinder over the years. His expectations have become more realistic.

Besides advice for teachers, he also has words of wisdom for students currently taking a language. He advises trying not to become frustrated, especially by comparing one’s abilities to another.

“If I were teaching next year I would say, this isn’t easy and it’s not fast. It takes work and it’s a slow process.  Be patient. You have to make mistakes,” Poole said.

He is visiting Walt Disney World this coming March. Another granddaughter is due soon. Poole also wants to volunteer at his church. He may go to Guatemala or Argentina to do mission work.

Poole will be translating a self-help book on grief written by an acquaintance of his. He also might do some tutoring to keep up on his skills.

Closing out his career he will miss the students, but also his colleagues

“I have the world’s best colleagues: Dr. Petrarca, Sra. Bergstein, Madam Skomra, Miss Patton, Frau Mitchell. They are the greatest colleagues I have ever worked with. All of the faculty, they have always been supportive and friendly. This is a great place to work. The administration has been awesome over these years, supportive too. I will miss the interaction with everyone,” Poole said.

Poole said when he first started to teach, he wanted to do it as long as he possibly could. After 42 years he feels and believes that he as done that. He feels he is at a place where it is time for him to move on. Coming into the district as a stranger, Poole has become a resident of this community. The district, students and staff have all embraced him. It is time for him to turn the page and move onto the next chapter of his life.

“I always tell my AP class that it doesn’t really matter so much that you remember all the Spanish and all the verbs I’ve taught you, but that you’re good people and you do good things. I think that is the most important thing: What kind of person are you going to be? How can you enrich other people’s lives?” Poole said.