Every year, as the student population grows, Oakdale High School welcomes teachers in every department. This year, the English department welcomes Mr. James Saris, a first-time full-time teacher, to the staff, and, as he said, he’s ecstatic to be here.
Saris’s journey with English began when he was in high school. He explained, “My biggest inspiration was a high school teacher I had. I was one of those students who took a really long time to find what he really enjoyed in school. It wasn’t until I started reading in 10th grade literature, which, [when I was in high school, was] American literature, and my teacher at that time got me [interested in] a lot of different books.”
His story continued into college, where he studied English and British literature. He, and the other members of his Masters’ program, were faced with hardship upon graduation: “It was the middle of the Great Recession,” he recounted, “right after the financial collapse of 2008, so there were very, very few jobs. Out of the graduating class of 40 people, after one year, only one person had a full-time job in education.”
So, chasing jobs, Saris moved into other fields, working as a long-term substitute all around Frederick County, before becoming a technical writer for various IT companies, as well as the National Cancer Institute. The practice of working with English in business, he shared, informs how he teaches: “I have a really unique perspective [as] somebody who has seen what the skills you develop in an English [class] can do in the real world.”
Finally, returning to the classroom after more than a decade and for the first time as a full-time teacher, Saris is thrilled: “Working in an office can be very repetitive, and that [is] something that [has] been wonderful about teaching: every day is different. Anytime [you’re in a] classroom [with] 25-30 students and a teacher, everyone is coming to that day from a totally different place. They might have terrible things going on or wonderful things going on, [but] we have to meet in the middle and create this environment where everyone is learning and becoming a smarter person than the morning they arrived.”
The students feel this energy as well. Freshman Ellen Dawson expressed their enjoyment of the class: “I like his teaching. I think he cares a lot about [his] students, and has different [methods of teaching the material. He is good about giving students options.]” They continued, “[Reading 12 Angry Men as a class] was a fun thing to do.”
This enthusiasm for the material should be expected, given Saris’s love of the works, which is something he tries to pass on to his students: “[In addition to teaching the historical context of the books, plays, and poems,] I like to make sure that students are engaged in seeing that these [works] can be very entertaining as well. [I don’t want my students to] lose the sense that these things were often written for entertainment, just as much for education.”
Saris’s passion for the material, enthusiasm for education, and professional experience will make him a perfect fit for Oakdale High School. And maybe, as he continues his tenure here, Saris may influence his students like his English teachers influenced him.
