English department welcomes Granger Taft
The new English teacher Granger Taft talking in front of the classroom having a discussion on animated movies to get to know each other more. This show Taft’s personality as a fun teacher that bonds and connects to his students.
November 7, 2020
The school recently added a new member to their English team, Granger Taft, who teaches English 9. Taft taught at Dakota Hills Middle School and Park High School for a few years before joining Stillwater. He knew the school was a good fit for him because he believes in the vision that teachers and administrative team have as they know what education should look like.
Taft explained the vision, “Challenging students with learning experiences that foster the kind of curiosity and excitement that sends them out into the post-high-school world hungry to learn more.”
After attending and graduating at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for a couple of years, majoring in healthcare administration, Taft took a few summer classes. This led him to work with some high school students about creative writing and that is when everything changed. Now, he is going into his fifth year of teaching. He is now attending Saint Mary’s University to pursue his Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
“All of the doubt and uncertainty I’d had about my future studies and my future career faded away during this experience. I knew I wanted to teach,” Taft added.
Even with the school year being so different, Taft is truly making the best out of it. With the hybrid schedule, he is able to take advantage of smaller classes by having a closer, more connected classroom. All online might have been hard in the beginning, but Taft is able to use his struggles which forced him to learn more education tools that will stick with him in later years.
“I have found most of the challenging aspects of this strange year are actually positives in disguise,” Taft said.
Taft is an assistant coach for the school’s football team, he was thrilled when offered the position because he not only enjoys the game of football but the team-oriented side of it. He is excited that Stillwater is able to have 2020 game nights and to be a part of something that is such a unique opportunity, a team.
“To witness all of the moving parts of a team when it comes together on game night, or for an opening performance, it’s the closest thing to magic that I’ve experienced,” Taft said.
Taft always embeds fun into his classes which engages his students and makes learning more fun for them. With his sense of humor and his ability to bring joy into his classrooms, he is able to brighten up the room with fun activities and comfort.
“Taft is the best English teacher I have ever had and he makes each class more fun than the last,” freshman Chloe Stanton said.
Being able to build strong relationships with students and others is so important to be a teacher. Taft excels at this, he easily can build relationships with others around him, this helps bring comfort and connectedness to his classes. With the positive environment students and others around him excel.
Ing-Mari Ryan Taft’s mentor at school explained, “One of his greatest strengths, and the most important part of being a teacher in my opinion, is how skilled he is at building relationships.”
It is not difficult to see that Taft is already showing signs of being a great fit at our school, it’s safe to predict that he’ll be able to excel as an English 9 teacher.
