Teaching Exploration

John H. Wood ’77 is one cool teacher. You won’t find any disagreement about this among his students at Talbert Middle School in Fountain Valley, Calif. After all, they’ve watched him teach his science class by Skype from a research station in frozen Alaska.

This year Wood’s willingness to go the extra mile for his students was recognized, as he was named an Orange County Teacher of the Year during a special gala at Disneyland.

“It was phenomenal,” he said of winning the award. “It was a huge honor right from the get-go, since I was nominated by my peers from my school. That’s what meant the most to me.”

Wood was also selected as a finalist for California Teacher of the Year. Teaching is a second career for Wood. He spent 11 years as a researcher involved with the National Science Foundation’s polar programs. After switching to teaching, Wood maintained his far-flung interests and joined expeditions to Alaska, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Antarctica’s Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on the planet. His students back home were able to follow his Antarctic journey.

“I was teaching volcanology on top of a volcano, 10,000 miles away,” he explained.

Winning Orange County Teacher of the Year has encouraged Wood to continue traveling.

“The school district has been so supportive of me going on these expeditions,” he said.

“The kids have responded fantastically.”