By Alexandra Dalton
Staff Writer

Dianne de Waal, a dedicated history teacher for over 20 years, realized her dream early and started out young. Growing up in Dallas and attending Dallas University, de Waal has lived and taught in Coppell for all of her teaching career and has become a staple in the Coppell Middle West School community where she taught until last year.

Transferring to Coppell High School, she is now she teaching AP Human Geography opposed to U.S. History, which she has taught for all this time. Calling teaching “her life’s work”she makes it her goal to get her students to learn in a way that will stick.

Why did you decide to start teaching?

Growing up in school I felt like I really did not have very many good teachers and I wondered why. I wondered why there was this lack of good teaching when there were so many interesting topics and so much to explore. I was kind of a rebel in high school and I was completely anti establishment. I always told myself I could do this better then they can and I always knew I was going to end up in history and I would be a teacher.

Are you approaching your classes different now that you have older students?

Well I have freshman and six upperclassmen. I have 156 kids and 150 are freshmen. They are certainly different from eighth graders, I would say they are a little less mature than they were in eighth grade. Now they are in the entry level, they are the youngest instead of the oldest. There is a big difference between 14 and 15 year olds. These kids are going to school with students who can drive and have a job. They are still on the closer end to kids in middle school then the older kids, but I haven’t noticed really any difference because I know so many of the kids in my classes from last year and its just been a natural flow to see the kids. A third of the kids I know really well.

How is it seeing the kids you have had in previous years around the school?

It is wonderful. That is the best part about being here; it’s seeing those kids from West. Whether their seniors, juniors, sophomores or kids I had last year. I really, really, really liked the group I had last year from West so when I started to think about moving to the high school, this was a good time to do it because I really liked to see those kids again. The timing was good for me.

What is your most wild story about how far you are willing to go to really get these students to learn in a way that they will comprehend best?

I am very passionate about what I do. Well, I think it is the costumes, it is the court trials, it is the simulations, it is the conventions, it is the student leadership and the turning over the classroom to the kids as year goes on. I have told them for the very beginning this is your classroom. I have decorated it, I have facilitated it, but really this is your environment. With the blended learning, because AP Human Geography is blended, there really is more of an opportunity to turn that learning over to the kids.

When their in the blended lab, I design the lesson for them but it is all collaborative or online. They are literally in the drivers seat of their education. And it is been hard for me to let go of that too, but I am working on that. But I really believe that learning can be fun, that it does not have to be a chore. Now we have got to take notes, we have got to have quizzes, we have got to work on vocabulary, that is the reality of it. But overall, learning can be fun. It does not have to be a bore, it can be really exhilarating, and enriching.

How do you think you are adapting to the curriculum?

Geography is not my specialty, U.S. history was, so it is been a learning curve, but I knew it was going to be. But this particular geography class is not just about the physical geography, it is about culture, religion, history and language. So it is all those things I really love on a global scale. It was time for me to move on from middle school, I would been in middle school for 20 years. It was time for me to move on to the high school, so this was a good fit.

I liked the age, this age is a good age for me. I do well with the 14 to 15 age range. I am really passionate about helping with the transition from middle school to high school. As an eighth grade teen leader, I felt that there was  a need for that. So I am glad to be apart of the freshman team.

What was the reason for your high school transition?

It was the timing, more than anything else, it was the timing. I had a very very hard time with Mr. Edin retiring(Mr.Edin was the principal of West for over 20 years and worked with Mrs.de Waal during that time). In my professional career he was like a father to me; he raised me as teacher. Any teacher that I am today is because of Vern Edin. And so to imagine a West without Mr. Edin was very difficult for me to do. This job came along to me and the summer and I was not very familiar with the course and blended learning, but I was able to pick it up easily.

Mr. Lahey who was my co-teacher went along to be a assistant principal at Lewisville. I lost my co-teacher, Mr. Edin was leaving, this job was opening up and I really liked the incoming freshman and this job was opening up. I was ready to do something different, and with all of those things put together it was just a really perfect fit.

Are you paving your own way so to speak or are you getting help from other teachers?

Mrs.Young, the teacher who taught this course before me and is now at New Tech, has been a huge help. But I have taken her information and putting my own spin on it. Of course I am also taking my own stuff, like using string in the hallway to represent longitude and latitude and I will mix a court trial in there somewhere but just the stuff that I also really like is my repertoire of assignments and activities. I guess the transition has not been that difficult, I work hard anyway. I worked hard at West, I work hard now, thats kind of who I am. I really really like the high school.

I like the energy, I like the music.There are so many activities and things to do here. This is such a dynamic place and I’m really enjoying that. So I am working hard and I am tired. I am creating a lot of stuff as I go and I have a foundation of what she [Young] left. I am a very unique teacher so I have to add my flavor and I’m getting together a new wardrobe. So it is me, only in a different place.

How do you keep up the energy everyday?

Well I loved U.S. History and learning to like AP Human Geography and so I think I will once we get out of the more basic things and we get into the culture. I truly love the kids. I feel very responsible, nurturing and excited.

The blending is harder for me because I have to leave my students and I’m having separation anxiety. I like to talk to the kids and ask them crazy question. How are geography and economy related? I like to make my students go ‘what?’ I love that dialogue as the students are thinking and being progressive. They are thinking, thinking, thinking until they think that they cannot anymore and when they do it amazing. So I really like to see the kid experience deep learning and success. I just love talking to them.