Derrick Jones has been a teacher at Watauga High School alone for 31 years. In total, he has been teaching 32 years. He attended Watauga High School himself and knew even at a young age that we wanted to be a history teacher at Watauga High School. Even when he was a student at Watauga, he had several teachers and family members who inspired him to begin teaching, but teaching history in general.
Mr. Jones is certainly a teacher that students are going to remember. When you are a member in his class you will hear plenty of stories about his travels, his children, and his wife. He is definitely one of the most caring teachers to ever teach at Watauga High School, and he tries to make sure each student can have a personal relationship with him and his class, so they feel welcome in the classroom.
Jones says, “If I take the time to get to know the difficult students they tend to be more responsive, some students need to connect with others to feel motivated and imorpantant. The least I can do for some is make them feel welcome in my classroom, if they aren’t welcome anywhere else.”
Mr. Jones has a substantial history at Watauga and says that even before the move to the current building, personalizing the school and the classes has always been his favorite part of being at Watauga. “I was allowed to paint my room at the old school, I had all the flags of countries that I teach in my classes.” Mr. Jones has very fond memories of the old high school building, and he said the atmosphere was amazing, and the students loved the original building for Watauga High school due to the personalization of everything. “The students were allowed to decorate, if the walls could talk they would tell stories, both good and bad.”
Even when it came to his lessons, making sure that students connected with the information that they were learning was so important to Mr. Jones. “Students want information they can relate to, it has more meaning if they can relate to personal stories. Anything that I can teach that can relate to a student whether it’s for life and their future or something that has already happened.”
Every teacher has received advice from at least one person in their lifetime, and one piece of advice for Mr. Jones soars above the rest. “One piece of advice I received, is, every teacher needs the three Clint Eastwood faces, and I think Mr. Combs [Randy] has got that down better than I do.”
When interviewed, Mr. Jones continued to act like himself, telling stories, explaining highlights of his teaching career and speaking on what he is going to do with his time off. What he will end up doing is still undecided. However, he does have a new grandson that he absolutely adores and he did say that he will be spending a significant amount of time this summer with him. He showed me the adorable pictures of his grandson, and it was clear how excited he is to be a grandparent.
Although Mr. Jones will love retirement and all of the benefits that come along with it, leaving Watauga High after so many years would certainly be bittersweet for many. However even with Mr. Jones parting from our school, he will always have a special place at Watauga, along with a special place in many student’s lives as well. He has certainly made an impact and it will not be forgotten.
“I bleed Watauga blue, I love this place, I love the hall the walls, the teacher, the students, and the community.”
Written by: Sophia Bateman
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