Mr. Rei David is in his first year here at Glendale High School, and he is teaching Living Earth in the 6000 building. He was born and raised in Fullerton, California, and he now lives in Arcadia. 

While living in Fullerton, Mr. David attended Sunny Hills High School and subsequently went to Cal Poly Pomona to earn his degree in chemistry, with a minor in business. After he graduated in 2022, he soon began to realize that he didn’t like chemistry that much. “It’s very common,” he said. “College graduates usually don’t like their major after four years of it.” 

Before teaching Living Earth here at GHS, Mr. David was actually an accountant. He said that soon after becoming an accountant, he started to get tired of all the numbers and the lack of human interaction. After a short period of time, he decided to begin subbing for classes to prepare in becoming a teacher. After subbing and teaching for a good amount of time, Mr. David said that he prefers teaching, because he gets to know his students better by being able to have conversations with them.

One thing Mr. David likes about teaching Living Earth is that he enjoys seeing students start to understand the topic presented during class, but he doesn’t like it when his students just assume they can look up anything on the internet to help themselves out. But in general, his favorite thing about teaching is being able to interact with people. He said, “Compared to being an accountant, where I just heard numbers all day, being a teacher is really nice.” 

One of Mr. David’s favorite things to do is to keep and collect the things people draw and write for him. He eventually hopes to have a wall in his classroom where he can have all the stuff that he’s been given throughout the years. He says that he also likes to keep these items close to him whenever he’s having a rough day, to remind him to keep going.

One thing that students in Mr. David’s class should all know about is Timothy, the T. rex! Timothy is a small plush animal that Mr. David calls ”big-boned,” and he lives in Mr. David’s classroom. 

Whenever Mr. David wants someone to answer a question in class, he gives Timothy to that person and has them hold the animal as they speak. Timothy could be considered a talking piece, but he is so much more than that. 

Mr. David said that he got Timothy when he started subbing. He said that whenever his students weren’t paying attention, he would take Timothy out, and everyone would stare at the round, buff dinosaur. Keeping Timothy with him while he was subbing worked every time, and he was always able to get the students’ attention. Timothy has definitely made his life easier.  

If any student here at GHS dreams of becoming a teacher, Mr. David advises them to “put yourself in the shoes of an educator.” He encourages students to participate in an after-school program at a local elementary school or to do some other volunteer hours. 

He highly suggests trying out teaching first to see how you deal with kids who are around the ages of six to ten years old. When he did volunteer hours at his local elementary school while he was a high school student, Mr. David felt a little frustrated, but at the same time, fulfilled. He said that he enjoyed this experience, and he learned how to become a better educator from it. He also recommends that if you want to volunteer at an elementary school, you should start as soon as possible. Students should decide early if they like working with children or not, because teaching is a huge commitment. 

Let’s all welcome Mr. David to GHS, Nitros! (And don’t forget to stop by Room 6301 and say hello to Timothy, too!)