Being a teacher and student at SPASH has proven to be difficult during a pandemic. Creating bonds between the students and teachers seems to be one of the many current issues. Teachers like Mr. Totten still succeed in making these connections. 

Mr. Totten , a previous average SPASH student and now a teacher, says that it is hard to run his class the way he wants to with the wall that Corona has put up. As mentioned before Mr. Totten used to be an average student at SPASH, not a straight A student, but also not flunking. He out of all of the teachers knows what life is like as a SPASH student and knows how important it is to have a bond with a teacher and how it helps improve your effort that goes towards your education. He just like every student had a few bumps along the way. His parents were divorced and he lived on a farm so “any after school activities were mostly out of the question.”

In college, Totten realized he wanted to be an educator. He claimed that he did not regret his decision at all.  “It is different everyday and I get to help and teach my students.” With a smile on his face he continued to say “When I create certain bonds with certain students they become family I have even watched students get married.” His mood then changed when he mentioned that because of COVID it is very hard to create those bonds with new students and see where they stand when it comes to their grades and understanding what is going on in class. 

Aysha Moore is a former student of Totten’s. She had mentioned that he was a very good teacher. She was a student who struggled and was not a big fan of attending school when she felt like she didn’t have to. Totten later changed that. “He was the reason I came to school and showed up to my classes.”  “He was one of my favorites.” She enjoyed his class and looked forward to it. Every time she saw him because he made her smile and laugh. One of the main reasons she enjoyed his class was because he made it interesting there for it gave me a reason to listen and pay attention to what he was teaching. She enjoyed it so much that it inspired her to learn different things. “He was a very understanding teacher and took time out of his day to listen to me” This was something very big for Aysha because she felt that none of her teachers really understood her and why she was the way she was. Aysha was glad to be one of Totten’s students and learned many things she didn’t know before. 

Overall many of you are lucky to have had a teacher you have bonded with at SPASH. For some of you, that has been Mr. Totten. Mr. Totten, a former SPASH student and now science teacher, creates strong bonds with his students. Creating bonds with students makes teachers better at their jobs. Students learn in different ways and in order to know what learning style works best for each student, the teacher has to have some sort of bond with them, but with COVID-19 it has been very difficult to connect with students.