By Arianna Bekas
Mr. Talbert is a chemistry teacher at Apopka High School and what makes his class special is his true love for the science which you can see through his teaching. Not only that but his wit and humor make the class all the more enjoyable. While Chemistry is a challenge, he makes sure that every student gets the attention and help they deserve to be able to pass his test. Mr. Talbert’s funny attitude that students relate to makes chemistry all worthwhile.
How long have you been a teacher?
I have been teaching since I was in high school, really. But professionally I taught two years at the University of Maryland, and I am currently going on three years here at Apopka.
Why did you switch to teaching at a high school, were you a professor before?
I wasn’t a professor, I was a teacher’s aide. At college, the professors don’t really teach and they use the Teacher’s aide. So you actually teach and do the lab.
Can you tell me a little bit about the subject you teach?
The subject is chemistry and it is probably the hardest one if you ask the students here in this school. To me it’s the most fun subject out of all of them, it’s a challenge.
What made you want to study chemistry?
It’s challenging and when I was in high school I was bored because nothing challenged me. Chemistry challenged me. It was also pretty good because the first year I got to work with a material that was used to make rockets. So I was able to tell my mom I was a rocket scientist.
What is your favorite part about being a science teacher?
Oh man- seeing the kids cry after a test [laughs].
Have you seen that a lot?
Yes, I actually collect the tears and drink them at night. [Laughs] My favorite part is probably seeing the students faces when something cool happens.
Why should a student take a class like chemistry?
Oh man, I think there are more reasons why not to take a class like chemistry. But I think it’s for the cool things that you will learn and see. A lot of people don’t know too much about chemistry and how cool it can actually be when you get past all of the math. I know it sucks, but to be honest, there are a lot of people who want to go into science and you gotta take chemistry, unfortunately.
What is the best thing that has happened in your class?
(Jackson Houvouras interrupts to say the best thing is him being in Mr. Talbert’s class.) You can put that down for Jackson Houvouras, it was not the best thing. There was a day when a lot of students skipped, that was pretty cool. [Laughs] Actually, there was this one class where I think their lowest score on a test was a 72 percent. I think that was probably the best thing that happened. It was for unit one but it was probably the best thing that ever happened. Then it all went downhill after that.
What is the worst thing to happen?
The fires, plural, that’s happened. I had one that happened this year and it was after first period. Some students threw the chemicals away and there was a fire. Luckily it was happening during my planning period and it happened in the trash can right next to my desk. But the flame was probably about three to four feet off the ground. But as a chemist, you see fire all the time so all I did was put some water on it.