When the new school year began the English department welcomed a new teacher, Mr. Joseph Hill. Mr. Hill was previously an English teacher at Inspire, but he recently made the move to our own Pleasant Valley High School. He is now currently subbing for Mrs. Durant as she is on maternity leave. He is teaching both ninth and tenth grade college prep and honors English.
Some background information about Mr. Hill is that he graduated from UC Davis with a creative writing degree and has always had a passion for teaching. Mr. Hill is originally from Texas but made the move to Chico when his wife decided to teach at Chico State. His first job before becoming a teacher was as a local bartender. Some of his hobbies outside of school are video games, cycling, spending time with his dog, watching tv, and writing. Mr Hill proves to be an active person by involving himself in many activities with our school like clubs (Poetry out Loud, DND, and GSA) and field trips.
He states his favorite thing about being a teacher is. “Being able to take my excitement about a subject and seeing them equally excited about what we’re doing that day in the classroom.” Mr. Hill has always been a teacher in some form “Like when I was instructing new people at my job.”. Another one of his favorite things about teaching is also being creative in the classroom. Mr. Hill is constantly using unique and fun lesson plans to interest his students and keep them engaged.
Some fun facts about Mr. Hill are: His teacher best friend is Mrs. Kauffman, he hates the movie Zootopia, he has a pet dog, and the town he grew up in did not even have a stoplight.
His favorite thing about PV is “The motivation the students have and their kindness and [their]warmth.” He says the biggest difference between Inspire and Pleasant Valley is the larger focus Pleasant Valley has on sports and the many opportunities Pleasant Valley has to offer to their students, unlike IHS, which didn’t really offer any sports while Mr. Hill taught there.
Mr. Hill says having fun at his job inspires him everyday. He states. “Transferring that joy I have for teaching to the students so that they realize even though we’re having fun, we’re still learning.” Everyone should be having fun while learning. Though Mr. Hill is new here at PV, he has already crept his way into so many students’ and teacher’s hearts.
