Special Education teacher and Beyoncé fan Adam Richardson grew up in Brazil and the United States. In their free time, you can find them reading, going for a run or watching “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What about the high school stands out to you so far?
I’m very impressed [with] the student body and how responsible and respectful they are. [They] have a lot of freedom and I’ve been impressed with how [they] have stepped to the plate when it comes to that freedom and utilized it to the best of [their] ability.
What do you remember about your high school experience?
My high school experience was kind of unique because during my 9th and 10th grade years I lived in Brazil, which was a wild experience but really formative for me. And then I moved from there to a school with about 4,000 kids in Utah, so they were very different experiences. But, overall, the thing I remember was the connections I made. Something that really impacted me were some of the teachers and the examples that they set for me.
What do you hope for your students this year?
The biggest thing about school is being able to learn to be good community members, good citizens and good people. I teach science, I help out with math [and] I help out with special education, so I wear a lot of hats and I teach a lot of things, but most importantly what I hope every student walks away with is knowing how to help other people, knowing how to be kind, be respectful [and] be a good citizen.
What were your favorite teachers like and how do you hope to emulate them?
The teachers that I admired the most were the ones that knew how to walk the line between being personable and making connections, while also having control of the classroom. I try to do that in my classrooms. I don’t feel like I am as successful as they were; they were masters of the craft. They walked this line of making sure that there was a little bit of chaos and a lot of order, and I feel that both work together to make an interesting and fun classroom space.
