Photo Credit: Simrundeep Kaur
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October 14, 2009
Bach Phan
Before history teacher Alphonso Thompson came to Washington, he worked at numerous other schools, including Logan High School, Patterson Elementary, Grimmer Elementary and Durham Elementary.
He went to Logan High School as a teenager and rivaled with Washington when he played football as a young man. At first, he was disgusted to be teaching at his rival school, but he also felt optimistic because he already knew that Washington was a good school.
Thompson believes that the student body to be nice and responsible, the parents supportive, and the social studies department also very supportive.
“It’s laid back,” Thompson said.
In the classroom, he tries to impact his students’ lives. Thompson believes that he, too, learns new things each day.
“It made me a better person, and it has made me more responsible and an example for the youth,” Thompson said.
Thompson wants to do more than just teach.
“The measure of a good teacher isn’t measured in a classroom, it is measured by the impact [they have] in the students’ lives,” Thompson said.
Thompson began to realize his desire to teach during high school. His visual and performing arts teacher, Tommy Lindsay, inspired him. Thompson used to be a class clown, and Lindsay focused all of that negative energy into something positive in speech.
Thompson joined the Forensics Speech Team and was a two-time state champion in California, and a one-time national champion in duo interpretation, which is summarizing and acting out a play with two people. He also got second place in state his sophomore and junior year and was ranked number one as a freshman.
In school, Thompson did not have a favorite subject. He tried to find something good in every subject, whether it was math, science or history. He thought of himself as optimistic and easily pleased. However, he went on to study history in college, such as California history, African-American history, and political science. He eventually chose to pursue history because he thought history was the subject that could invoke the most change and have the most impact in the lives of his students.
When Thompson is not in the classroom, he still tries to be involved in the field that helped to change his life around. He helps to produce and develop young talent, mainly high school students. He hopes that some day one of these pupils that he has can get a record deal and he can be their manager.
In the future, he wishes to improve himself as a teacher and continue to learn in his subject of history. One day, he wants to be able to know almost everything there is to know about history.
