Most students who walk through Duerr hall this year will recognize that there is a new face. It’s hard to miss the new teacher as he stands above everyone as one of the tallest teachers at Trinity. Last week John Docter sat down with the ECHO to talk about his start at Trinity and how his 11th year of teaching has gone so far, as well as how he will approach teaching physics.
When asked why he came to Trinity, it was mainly a faith-based decision. “I’m strongly Catholic. I go to Saint Patrick’s, and I’m involved in church and school.” He said that coming to Trinity was more of a calling for him. After teaching at Fairdale for 10 years, Docter was asked to come and teach junior physics at Trinity.
His goal for class is to keep students involved through labs and interactive assignments. Every day when students come in there is a warmup that the students answer and then write on the discussion board. Throughout his first few months at Trinity, Docter and his classes have been going through speed and acceleration. They have ventured outside to the new Eckerle courtyard to complete a lab on the acceleration of RV cars. The week after that project, classes stayed in the lab to learn about their own acceleration by running through the lab while other students timed their speed. Docter plans to keep the interactive activities up throughout the entire year.
But how did Docter’s career begin? After graduating from Ballard High School, Docter attended the University of Louisville where he was a chemistry and business major. While at the beginning of his four years he looked into medical school and pharmacy school, he eventually realized that was not the path that he wanted. When visiting an academic advisor, Docter said that they suggested he do a Teach for America program. While at first he was not very interested in the idea, but once he found a program that was specifically for math and science and would be able to stay in Louisville, he took the opportunity and has not looked back for the past 11 years.
We are looking forward to the future with Docter and how he will impact our school.
