Well-liked and friendly, social studies teacher Mr. Berry was this week’s staff interview choice! He is known by many as a kind and funny teacher who makes an effort to truly get to know everyone. It’s hard to think of anyone who doesn’t think the best of him! Mr. Berry was asked four questions, and he gave his most honest and thoughtful answers.
Mr. Berry has taught many courses over the years: Law, Sociology, World Geography, Human Geography, and various World History classes. Out of everything on that list, what could be his favorite? We asked, he answered: “I think generally what has been most fun for me to teach has been law, especially if I get a really good group of kids, which I usually do. Law is a really interesting subject because living here in the United States, you really can’t get away from legal concepts and issues… The way that I do the class is, obviously there’s some note-taking and that sort of thing, but we have case studies that go on in that class, and the kids are asked to apply what they’ve learned to all these different legal situations. A lot of the time, the kids have a really good time with that, they enjoy discussing the nuances of law and that sort of thing. I guess because the kids are having a good time, I have a good time with that too.”
We also asked what he liked the most about his students, which results in an interesting answer from any teacher. Mr. Berry explained that his favorite thing was his students’ personality and interests. “I get such interesting personalities in my classes, and because I’m teaching social sciences, most of the time we get into a lot of really interesting discussions where you learn a lot about these kids. You know, I think what’s underestimated by a lot of teachers is actually talking about stuff other than your subject matter and getting to know these kids: to know what their favorite music is, and talk about, ‘Hey, did you see the game last night,’ or, ‘Did you watch the television show that everybody’s watching,’ or whatever. Beyond the fact that that’s just useful in building [relationships] with kids and getting along with them, it’s neat for me because I then get to understand what’s going on with the younger generation of kids. It helps me keep track of current events sometimes because they’re into stuff that I’m not into, and they’re always excited to kind of share their opinions and ideas.”
Our third question: If you had to give a general piece of advice, what would it be? “Be kind. I tell kids all the time in my classes- in Sociology and Law; a little less so in World History, I think World History is a lot of people not being kind, I think you’re probably not gonna learn a lot of that in there. But, if you learn nothing else from me, let it be that you should be kind to other people because it costs you nothing to be kind. I’m not the first person whose said that, I’ve probably stolen that from some other pretty important people- including Harry Styles. But as a general advice for humaning: be kind.”
To wrap up his interview, Mr. Berry was asked about his favorite college memory. He explains that he used to be a part of radio groups at Winthrop. “I ran two different radio programs in college, which I had a lot of fun with. I ran an anime music program, which I actually won an award for in my sophomore or junior year. That was fun, and I also ran a pro wrestling, like, television review show. I’d say it was a sports program, but pro wrestling isn’t- well, it’s not real. Anyways, we enjoyed talking about all of the writing and athleticism and so forth that was happening in that. I really enjoyed running these programs and bringing on guests and talking to them and that sort of thing, I had a good time with that. We didn’t get very broad reach on these programs, I think they were just being broadcast over the cable programs at our school and the internet.”
Mr. Berry is a teacher who anyone can talk to about a wide variety of topics, because he always has an interesting answer. He enjoys conversations with any students, even ones that aren’t his own. It’s very clear that he cares a lot! If you know Mr. Berry even a little bit, don’t ever feel too shy to stop and wave!
