As you walk into Mr. Charlip’s room at the beginning of class, before you hear students discussing history, you may hear them discussing icebreaker questions first. These icebreakers reflect Mr. Charlip’s commitment to student engagement beyond just historical content. He explains, “I love doing community builders, which I call ‘do nows’ to keep students engaged from the beginning of class.” I sat down with Mr. Charlip to learn more about his past and what he’s like as a teacher.
Mr. Charlip graduated from the University of Michigan, and before coming to Berkley he taught at a small private charter school. He came to BHS last school year, and has since taught AP World, Government and Economics, and US History. Mr. Charlip went on to explain, “Every day is something new, and I love that about [teaching]. You don’t really know what may happen in your classroom on a given day. For example, you have your plans, but something will pop up and you have to pivot, and I love that aspect of teaching.”
Teachers have a long-lasting impact on students, and Mr. Charlip wanted to give back to students what teachers gave to him. “I had really great teachers growing up that were go-to people for me and helped me mature and make some decisions for my life. I wanted to be able to provide that for other students,” Mr. Charlip shared. He also explained the relationship aspect of teaching, as another driving factor of becoming a teacher. “I love being able to build relationships with students and other teachers. I want to strive to be someone that students can come to, and can be someone important to talk to besides a parent/guardian.”
Students may look at history class on their schedule and frown upon it. Mr. Charlip understands that and tries to make his teaching as interactive as possible. “I like to present information in many different ways including maps, sources, and videos. I know that some students may not enjoy sitting and reading out of textbooks, so trying to make the content as consumable and interactive as possible for students is key.” This reveals that being a teacher who makes history fun and engaging is very important to Mr. Charlip. “I was very lucky because when I was learning and coming up through high school and college my history classes had teachers that made it interesting, and I saw the impact that being a good teacher could have and how they can make history intriguing.” You will always see Mr. Charlip with a smile on his face and having fun with students. He believes that history aligns with his personality and that is why teaching history was a perfect fit for him!
There are many challenges that students face on a day-to-day basis. Whether it’s having to complete homework for many classes, having extracurriculars or having to study for tests and quizzes, students have a lot on their plates. Mr. Charlip understands the daily stresses and struggles of a student, “Last year, I shadowed a student as a new teacher. BHS has a program in which new teachers follow a student for a day of school, and seeing how busy student lives are with many extracurriculars, work, and spending time with family gave me sympathy for students.” As a result, Mr. Charlip tries to limit the homework students have by encouraging them to finish all work in class so they won’t have homework that night. “I try to limit how much students do outside of class, I think that us as teachers can make life easier for students and engage more students in class, since they know that they won’t have work that night.”
Outside of the classroom, you can find Mr. Charlip hanging out with his family and friends. He is a huge Michigan and Detroit sports fan with his favorite teams being the Red Wings and Wolverines football. You can even make your predictions for the upcoming weekend games on the back whiteboard in his room! Some students may bump into Mr. Charlip beyond the school day, as he is also an ACT reading and writing tutor.
Mr. Charlip makes sure to put the students first in his classroom. You will often see him greeting you as you walk in his door and making good conversation no matter the topic or time of day!
