John Gordon, a World History and Film teacher at Northbrook High School, has taught students at the school for ten years now and will talk about how the school has changed and past experiences at the school in his ten years of teaching. Many of you know him as Mr. Gordon, but I know him as the teacher who will stop teaching the class to tell you stories about him to learn a thing or two about life.

“I remember the year was 2010. On a hot August day, I went to the school for an interview, and I was to speak with the Building Principal, Mr. Adami. There was construction going on at the school similar to how there is now, but with some temporary classrooms outside, and inside, some of the hallways were blocked off along with some entrances. I arrived at the interview a little late, mainly because I had a hard time finding the room where the interview was to take place. As I walked through the Main Gym, I see Adami walking out of the interview room; embarrassed, I shook his hand, and I was then interviewed to get the job as a teacher here at Northbrook” said Gordon.

The first day of school I was very confused about the way the school was organized, it’s a three-story building with a lot of rooms, I didn’t know where my classroom was, there was a lot of activity going on, and as I had only been in the building once before that day, it was a very confusing building.

Even though Gordon has taught at Northbrook for ten years now, he also taught at Memorial High School for 4 1/2 years, where he was also the Head Tennis Coach, Stratford High School for a year, and Academy of Choice.

As a teacher, you either like the job, or you don’t. I’ve had some students that were hard to teach and some that didn’t want to be taught, but I never had thoughts of quitting my job. I love seeing kids get educated. There are times where I miss a student in my class. Still, then I remember that students are meant to be educated to go to the next level of their life and not meant to be caged. One of the hardest things to do as a teacher, in my opinion, is having to fail a student even if I don’t want to, but because of their decisions, I have to.

I have so many memories at this school, good and bad memories. I’ve been here the longest and experienced many things. I remember getting to school once as the parking lot and the school’s surroundings were flooded. I had to walk through the flood to get inside the school, the water was up to my knees, and my pants and socks were just covered in water! It was so uncomfortable that I still remember that day. One time a fire started in a science lab. I’m not sure how that happened, but I remember the firefighters coming, and we didn’t know if the school was going to get canceled, and this other time, I got between a fight of two students, and I took a hit from one of the students by accident. Nothing pretty awful has happened to me from my time being here. Still, I do remember that I was at a red light on the way to the hotel where the school prom was. Out of nowhere, I got hit from the back by a drunk driver, luckily no one was hurt, and my car took minor damage, but his car was more unlucky, it was very time-wasting and unexpected.

The school has gone through some changes and additions to the building, but the most noticeable of them is the students in the school. Technology has changed everything from learning to the people that use it. These cellphones have made it so easy to communicate that most students don’t communicate in the hallways or classrooms anymore. They are distracted by the little screens they care about in their pockets and aren’t aware of their surroundings because of the music blasting from their headphones. They are disconnected from the world and in their virtual world. Over the years, I have noticed how the ability to read from high school students has decreased. The school textbooks have been getting easier throughout the years because technology has gotten so distracting that students would rather be on their phones than read a book.

Gordon has decided to teach one more school year after the 2020-2021 school year before retiring.