Drama Club Advisor, Noah Payeur has spent his time after school with students, preparing them for upcoming performing arts opportunities.
It wasn’t until Feb 20. 2024 when Noah Payeur spent his first day outside the Drama Department, now teaching Full-Time in the History Department. Since teaching, Payeur has continued educating freshmen in World History, and juniors and seniors in Civics.
Originally Payeur wasn’t planning for a future of teaching. Payeur “didn’t know” that he wanted to be a teacher, until his mother, LMS’s Librarian Jessica Payeur drew attention to a Full-Time job offering in LHS’s history department. Throughout the past “scary” and “educational” years, Payeur has made great connections with his students.
Payeur strives to corroborate with his students to complete his classes with a strong background of the material taught in the class, while also focusing on a student-to-teacher relationship. Payeur encourages students to understand the importance of working with others, and when it is important to comply with your civic duties. While trying to make the most of his job, he always has a balance of fun time and work time.
“I love being able to see the progression these students make, even over just a semester,” Payeur said. “It’s great to see somebody know nothing about a subject, and be able to come in and then at the end of the semester be able to write papers on it, take tests on it.”
Sometimes the greatest gift for a teacher is understanding that you were competent enough to provide students to be proficient in concepts that the class covers; Payeur agrees strongly.
Throughout this first year, he unexpectedly learned about people’s characters intricately in his work setting.
“It’s very cool to see that I was able to put that knowledge into somebody’s head,” Payeur said. “I learned just a lot about being a High School teacher itself.”
Payeur exclaims that going from a student ‘at’ a desk to the teacher being ‘behind’ the desk is a huge social shift, from seeing things differently, to the way you react.
“I learned a lot of harsh realities about being a teacher, very early on,” Payeur said. “You’re not there to please them, you’re there to teach them, if a kid is angry at you that’s not the end of the world.”
Teaching at the school he once studied at, leaves him with cheerful memories, and a transfigured background with colleagues and settings he finds himself in until he is done in the building for the day.
“It’s super nostalgic and I love it,” Payeur said. “It was a bit weird when I first came in sitting at this desk, next to Peter Willis, even just saying the name “Peter Willis” that seems wrong to me, it should be Mr. Willis and Mr. [Joseph] Nalezinski.”
Being a first-year teacher after just recently finishing college, he has found a part of his job learning how to adjust to the new life he lives.
“It was weird at first,” Payeur said. “Over the last year or so [teachers]have come to respect them not only as mentors but as colleagues.”
Payeur finds himself focusing on the relationships he makes with students. Payeur believes that education is more than all the papers he passes out featuring guys with wigs and official documents. Payeur believes that the connections he makes with students are what he remembers at the end of the day.
“The connections I get to make with my students, I love finding out that a kid is super into history, I love finding out if a kid is super into theatre and then being able to have those kinds of conversations, relationships over time and let them grow,” Payeur said.
