Editor’s note: The following is one of three profiles of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s teachers of the year. Read them all here.
Kevin Ford has a simple philosophy for teaching literature at Calvert Hall: Have fun.
It’s that type of strategy that has endeared him to students and made him one of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Teachers of the Year.
“There is so much to love about teaching,” said Ford, a parishioner of St. Louis in Clarksville, “but I feel particularly lucky to teach literature. I relish developing unique learning opportunities for students, welcoming their original ideas and connections, and building greater
empathy for the struggles of others.”
Ford said part of his teaching philosophy is an acknowledgment that if the teacher isn’t having fun, the students aren’t having fun.
“I’m always excited to experiment with new projects and educational experiences,” Ford said.
After graduating from Calvert Hall College High School in 2007, Ford earned a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park and a master’s degree in education from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
At the University of Maryland, Ford served in a variety of teaching support positions in the English department and honors college, but began his professional career in the Teach for America program, serving in a middle school in East Baltimore after training in a Philadelphia high school.
Ford now teaches Honors English I, English III, and Honors World Literature at Calvert Hall and serves also as chairman of the English department, a peer education moderator and an Irish culture club moderator.
“Kevin is an amazing teacher who is able to connect with students and draw out their best efforts,” said Christian Brother John Kane, Calvert Hall’s president. “They know he cares for them and is passionate about the profession of teaching. He is most deserving of this award.”
Ford is always excited to experiment with new projects and educational experiences.
Some of his favorites include:
- “Calvert Hell: A Senior project tied to the study of Dante’s “Inferno,” wherein students conceive their own first-person journey through an underworld dedicated to punishing sins of the Calvert Hall community.
- Oedipal Debate: Small teams of freshmen identify one character from Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” to defend as being less guilty than all the other characters for the terrible crimes committed. Using text references, they debate issues including ignorance as a defense, the impact of criminal motive/intention, the importance of mitigating factors and the human condition relative to omnipotent deities.
- Holden’s Mixtape and Contemporary Caulfield: Freshmen choose one of these two culminating projects at the end of the school’s “The Catcher in the Rye” unit. Their creative expression is rounded out by a critical analysis of the original and updated scenes.
“This moment, being honored as Independent Catholic High School Teacher of the Year, is an absolute career highlight,” Ford said. “It’s a thrill. But the most satisfying moments have to do with the success and growth of my students. It means the world to me when an alumnus emails an article he’s published in his college paper.
“I am elated when a student eagerly tells me on a Monday that he connected some new movie he saw over the weekend with the literature we’ve read. And it’s particularly humbling to meet with the wider community, whether at traditional events or even back-to-school night and hear that students’ loved ones recognize the impact class is having on their growth.”
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