August 15, 2011

For three years, I taught in the classroom directly across the hall from Gregory Horlacher at Patterson High School. In that time, I frequently consulted with Mr. Horlacher and was repeatedly impressed by his by his insightful and creative approach to teaching and by his ability to build relationships with students. Mr. Horlacher is one of the most reflective teachers I have had the privilege to work with. He is constantly tweaking his lesson plans, seeking new ideas, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of his lessons. He is open to suggestions and to change, and he is quick to share lessons that work. I have certainly benefited from his insight and creativity several times. For example, after teaching To Kill a Mockingbird for a couple of years, Mr. Horlacher realized that not all of our students had a solid grasp of Jim Crow laws or of Southern culture in that time period. They couldn t understand why the black community of Maycomb would not just revolt. So he came up with lessons to teach before reading the book to build background knowledge. He had the students study Jim Crow laws and present skits that demonstrated a Jim Crow law in action. He also found a documentary about the Scottsboro Boys which had many parallels to the story and used it to explain the corruption of the court system at the time. The next time he taught the book, the students were much more engaged and understood the book in a much deeper way. Mr. Horlacher shared his lessons with me, and I also found that they helped my students tremendously. Mr. Horlacher s qualities as a teacher extend far beyond the planning portion of the job. Perhaps his most impressive quality is his ability to build relationships with his students. Mr. Horlacher is the type of teacher that students grow to love. He is a consistent, caring presence in their lives. He reaches out to students and gains their respect. This past year, for example, Mr. Horlacher began a club for boys who never really had a place in the extra-curricular activities offered at our school. They weren t athletic. They weren t particularly charismatic. They weren t socially mainstream. Many had terrible attendance. They needed a sense of belonging. So Mr. Horlacher began opening his classroom after school for them to hang out, play games, and build web-sites. As the after-school club began and developed, I could see these kids become more engaged in all aspects of school. Three of the students (who had been chronically absent) started showing up to school regularly. I honestly believe that Mr. Horlacher kept these three kids from dropping out. Mr. Horlacher s ability to build relationships was evident during the school day as well. He was a favorite of many students and was able to get his students to open up and to start thinking outside the box. His classroom was consistently crowded at lunch time with students who wanted to continue class discussions or to just hang out. I was always impressed with the work his students did (which he hung around the room), and I know his students were proud of it, too. It was a pleasure to teach with and observe Mr. Horlacher for those three years at Patterson. He is a gifted teacher, and he would be an asset to any school. Sincerely, Emily Roller (417) 619 1852