Bradford Buck, Science Teacher

Q: Why did you choose to come to GCAA?

A: Well, it was one of the places that I got a job, but I chose here specifically because I have a bit of an arts background and I enjoy incorporating arts into the science classroom, so I decided this was the perfect place to do that. All of these kids are art inclined whether they think so or not because it’s an arts atmosphere and they have to take those courses, they’re thinking about art, they’re doing art, and I love seeing it happen in the classroom. You can see some aspects (Buck motions towards some student projects on the wall), I like to provide projects and stuff where they can be artsy and learn science at the same time.

Q:What is your arts background?

A: I was almost an arts major in undergrad, but I’m too much of a perfectionist to get anything done on time, so I decided that was probably not best since I was getting B’s and C’s on A projects just because they were late, but I’ve always had a passion for science moreso, and art was more of a creative outlet for me, so both learning guitar and drums before highschool even and playing all through  high school with friends and by myself, songwriting, stuff like that as well as creative arts whenever I got a chance as a sort of stress relief, relaxation kinda thing.

Q: What Schools did you go to when you were studying for your degree?

A: I went to undergrad at University of Mary Washington, it’s a small liberal arts school in Virginia, which is where I grew up, Charlottesville Virginia, and then I went to northern Virginia worked in biotech for a little bit, and then I ended up going to grad school in Alabama, Birmingham Alabama, which is where I got my Masters in Biomedical Sciences and then my Masters of Education, which is the route I had intended on taking the whole time, but I was just too into science and enjoying it to give it up.

Q: Did you teach anywhere else before coming here?

A: This is my first full year teaching. I was working in a lab, a cancer research lab in UA-B, and getting my masters at the same time, and did my student teaching last spring through that program at the same time, graduated, got my certification, and moved here.

Q:What are your goals for your students in all of your classes?

A: I’d say being a critical thinker. I think that as far as science curriculum goes, often people get too bogged down in all the details and knowing the theories and the people behind them, when really the idea in science is to become a problem solver and a critical thinker, and I think science is a great venue to do that in because you have to be a critical thinker to understand some of the principals, and you also have to do that in order to function, doing labs and doing hands on stuff. So that’s what I like to do, I like to create, I like to think that I’m creating students that can think for themselves, can be skeptical about things that they hear in the news, and can essentially make a decision for themselves versus what they’re told from someone else based on their skepticism.

Q: What are you looking forward to this year at GCAA?

A: I’m looking forward to seeing my students get action in their arts, actually. I got a chance to view a couple of plays while I was student teaching, and it really was kinda game changing to see my students in a different light, I was always seeing them in the science classroom as students, as pupils, but never observing them doing what they were passionate about, and then when I did I saw a play and a musical, and it was amazing to see them, having fun performing being amazing then from then on it was kinda a different relationship a different dynamic of appreciation and interesting conversation, so I’m excited to see the shows and stuff that are coming up this year.