Those who know Josh might describe him as “my honors history teacher” or “my laid-back study hall proctor.” Others may know that in high school, Josh was a big fan of the bashing drums and the aggressive guitars, most simply known as heavy metal. Nowadays, Josh enjoys a slower, more mellow kind of music, a genre known as alt-country or alternative country, a subcategory of country.
In the hallway, as I prepared to interview Josh, I had no idea what version of him I would get. Was it going to be a brief check-box interview, or an in-depth discussion about his love of music? On a warm day in the Inn, class is in session, birds are chirping, and the sounds of students working on projects and teachers lecturing fill the air. I knock on the door of Josh’s classroom and realize he is a proctor of a study hall. Josh and I go out into the hallway, and the interrogation begins.
Music taste often changes as people grow older and experience different things and new stages of life. According to the University of Cambridge, research indicates that broad changes in personal music tastes throughout one’s lifetime are linked to personality and life experiences. Josh’s change from heavy metal, which he still enjoys, in high school, to alternative country supports this fact.
The music a person listens to can directly reflect what is happening in their life. High school, for most teenagers, is a fast-paced and high-energy time of their lives. Genres like heavy metal would have appealed to a teenager like Josh back in high school. As people age, they begin to appreciate music in different ways. For example, when talking to English teacher and dean Mr. Bell, he explained, “[Josh] just knows music I’ve honestly never heard of; he has an extensive knowledge of underground country artists.”
Today, music continues to play an important role in Josh’s life. You may see Josh in between class periods playing his guitar, fingering a mellow tune. When you see him, he’ll always give me a nod and say, “Hey Ken, how’s it going?” Many people usually overlook this gesture. However, for some people, it can be just what they need to have a better day. For instance, in September 2016, Mr. Bell, a dean at SCH, began working there, while Josh had already been working at SCH before Mr. Bell’s arrival. Mr. Bell recalls Josh asking, “Hey, you coming to lunch?” Mr. Bell described this first interaction with Josh as “ an act of someone inviting you to lunch meant the world to me, and he did that with a lot of people, making them feel welcome in a new space.” However, everyone who knows Josh at all understands that Josh is into music. However, Josh is more than just an honors history teacher who occasionally enjoys attending concerts. Josh’s attitude towards others exemplifies his caring and inclusive personality.
Josh’s approach to make SCH a more welcoming environment is intentional. It ties to an overarching national crisis of school isolation among teenagers in school. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “school connectedness, which is the belief that adults in the school care about their learning and about them as individuals, is a primary factor in long-term mental health and academic success. Unfortunately, studies show that approximately one in three high school students feels a sense of disconnection from their school community. In an era of high-stress testing and numerous digital distractions, the human interaction of teaching and learning is often overlooked. When teachers do not connect with students, it can create a less community-like feel. Fortunately for our school’s community, Josh’s guitar playing and friendly demeanor contribute to the bigger picture of the school’s community norms. Although seen as small acts, many small acts from teachers and students alike in a community can help fill any gaps in belonging that need to be addressed.
As students move from class to class and the hallway fills with them, Josh remains his mellow self, his guitar in hand. Whether it is a head nod in the hall, a lunch invitation with a coworker, or a connection with a friend over music, Josh proves that being yourself as a teacher is a part of his job. For Josh, that simply means incorporating sarcasm into jokes and sharing his love of music with others. It is hard to think that Josh once liked heavy metal music.
