SJND’s Longest Tenured Teacher: Mr. Ritter
Written by Vaanii G. ‘27
Out of all of the staff members at Saint Joseph Notre Dame, Mr. Ritter has the highest number of years of experience. In this interview, Mr. Ritter discusses his experiences at SJND.
Q1: How many years have you been at SJND?
A1: This is my 34th year and I had a sabbatical year where I lived in France and I came back, so it’s 34.
Q2: What is your favorite quote and why?
A2: “Art isn’t what you see but what you make other people see,” so I like that quote a lot and the reason why is because when you’re making art you’re really creating pictures and trying to design them in a way that people get the message that you’re trying to convey.
Q3: Is it true you are the teacher who has the most years at SJND on the active roster and why?
A3: That’s true- I think Mr. Fong actually has two years less than me. Ms Rodriguez was a math teacher and she was here for over forty. She was the longest standing staff member, but then when she retired that made me the longest standing staff member.
Q4: What knowledge can you pass on to the other teachers from staying here for so long?
A4: You know any time you are at a job it depends on if what your goals are and your personality and stuff aligned with what the schools mission is, so I think people who are into teaching because they really enjoy connecting with other people and share what they know because you can kind of make your own program. We have standards and other stuff but the way that we design our classes we have a lot of leeway to do that. You know I think that it is a really great place.
Q5: Since you have been here for so long, what unique learning styles do you use that help motivate your students to learn?
A5: So I think I feel blessed to be teaching art because in art we use pretty much all the modalities. We do things with our hands, we don’t do as much with our voice other than critiques and stuff or when we have talks. Then that is auditory learning and of course the visual component where you get to make things. The other part is that in art you get to teach people a whole process about how to make things and that process where you’re problem solving, designing things, and then making the projects. Actually completing them and having a chance to show them kind of takes you through like the whole life process. Whenever you want to create something in your life, you can use that whether it is for English classes or for a professional job and so you learn all kinds of life skills.
