When religion teacher Mr. Dan Marcantuono, better known as Mr. Marc, walked into a high school classroom as a teacher this year, it wasn’t exactly where he imagined his career would take him. Teaching, in fact, was once his last option. However, after an unexpected turn during graduate school, he discovered that being in the classroom was where he was meant to be. 

“I never would have sought it out,” he said.

Now in his first year of teaching high school, Mr. Marc brings his love of big ideas and philosophical discussions to his students. He teaches Christology/Paschal Mystery to sophomores, as well as Catholic Moral Thinking/Catholic Social Teaching to juniors.

“I like teaching the junior class a lot,” he said. “I love having our moral discussions and ethical discussions.”

Beyond his religion classes, Mr. Marc is also involved in the school’s Creative Writing Club as an adviser, which is a perfect fit for his experience with writing and literature.

Path to Teaching

Before becoming an educator, Mr. Marc had a wide range of jobs — some far removed from the classroom. He worked in healthcare consulting, helping hospitals save money, drove a van for a laundry company, worked at Domino’s, and had an internship in business development.

Teaching wasn’t something that he had seriously considered until he enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in creative writing at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in Ohio. As a part of his scholarship, he was required to teach courses in academic and creative writing to college freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. “I don’t think I would have gotten into teaching if I hadn’t gone to that grad school where they just basically throw you in as a teacher,” he said.

Mr. Marc completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English and creative writing, while previously attending high school at Westview High School in the Beaverton school district. Reflecting on his education, he said that his degrees have greatly influenced his teaching style. 

“They made me love thinking about big ideas,” he said. “That sort of influenced how I like to teach, which is usually centered around big ideas.” 

Lessons Learned from Teaching

From his first experiences in the classroom, Mr. Marc quickly realized that teaching requires more than just knowing the subject. “I learned how to improvise,” he said. “I think that maybe the biggest thing was just [that] I learned how to treat students like human beings.”

One moment that reshaped his view of teaching was during his first year of teaching his creating writing class when a student lost his father in the middle of the semester.

“It just suddenly kind of made me rethink what it means to be a teacher and what my job was,” he said. 

The experience taught him the importance of empathy, and how essential it is to create a supportive environment for students facing personal challenges.

The transition from teaching college to high school has come with its challenges, and Mr. Marc admitted to struggling with constantly having to adapt and improvise. Managing a workload filled with lesson planning, grading, and adjusting the curriculum has not been easy. “Getting accustomed to the workload and curriculum when it’s all so new to me” has been one of the biggest challenges so far, he explained.

Teaching Methods and Strategies

“I like to try to make class be more of a casual conversation so that class isn’t happening in a more formal and comfortable way, but sort of just like a chat,” he said. Mr. Marc describes himself as a “silly, goofy person” and believes that leaning into his personality helps him engage with students in a way that feels natural.

While he recognizes the importance of maintaining structure in the classroom, Mr. Marc believes that authority doesn’t come from simply being older or having a title. 

“Not that I want the classroom to be like all of us are peers and on the same level exactly, but that there is a lot I can be doing to make students feel empowered in the classroom,” he said. By encouraging a sense of collaboration and mutual respect, he aims to create an environment where students feel valued.

To ensure that students with diverse needs feel supported, Mr. Marc prioritizes personal relationships. “I try to get to know my students and then take time during class to talk to them individually,” he said. This technique allows students to feel noticed and valued, as Mr. Marc intentionally checks in with his students at least once a week to ensure they feel seen personally.

While his informal approach has been successful, not every strategy has worked. Long lectures don’t work for him because his students lose interest and stop paying attention. Instead, he incorporates creative methods to make lessons more engaging. 

“I try to get students thinking about the topic in unusual or different ways,” he said.

Mentors and Influences

Mr. Marc credits a lot of his teaching style to the influence of key mentors and role models in his life. His mother, though not a teacher, has had a significant impact on him. “She’s kind of who I model some of my teaching after,” he said. He learned empathy, emotional intelligence, passion, and spirituality from her. “I strive to be like her as a teacher but also just as a person,” he said.

Another major influence was his graduate school roommate, Paul Viafranco, who was a year ahead of him in the MFA program at BGSU. “He had so much passion for helping young people become cognizant of the crazy world we live in,” Mr. Marc said. Viafranco’s dedication to justice and education inspired him to think about teaching beyond just delivering information. 

“He was really concerned with injustice in our world, and he often thought about how teaching could rectify that,” he said.

From his own student years, Mr. Marc remembers high school teacher Ms. Neely, who sparked his love for books, and USC professor Aimee Bender, a successful author and an engaging teacher. “She’s just a really personable teacher, but also really brilliant at the same time,” he said.

Advice for Future Educators

For those considering a career in teaching, Mr. Marc offers a simple but significant piece of advice: “Prioritize empathy over everything else,” he said. He believes that being able to connect with students on a human level is the key to making a meaningful impact on their lives.

“[My] ultimate goal as a teacher is to help students start to question the things that they take for granted or the things they just assume are true about the world,” Mr. Marc said.

As he reflects on his teaching journey so far, Mr. Marc describes it as “a blessing,” he said. He acknowledges that his path to teaching was unexpected, but he’s grateful for the experiences and relationships he has come by.

While teaching is full of challenges and constant adaptation, Mr. Marc embraces the adventure with a sense of creativity and empathy — just as he teaches his students to do every day.