Keeping it Classic is the official podcast of The Classic. In this episode, we speak to Mr. Dunbar, and his role of being an interim acting assistant principal of English at THHS.

TRANSCRIPT:

(Click here to listen along to the transcript or for translation options).

[Nana-Ama Kwarteng]
Welcome back to Keeping It Classic, [the school newspaper’s] official student-run podcast. I’m your host, Nana-Ama Kwarteng, presenting you with episode 5 featuring Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Dunbar teaches English and is also in the theater department, and he’s now the assistant principal of the English department. So tell me, Mr. Dunbar, what classes do you teach?

[Mr. Dunbar]
First, can I just say thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I feel honored to be here, and I appreciate anything Classic-related, and I appreciate the invite. But anyway, I teach 10th grade English, and I teach 12th grade English.

So my sophomores, it’s a selective class. So it’s basically a theater-based English class. And then my seniors, it’s the humanities seminar that I co-teach with a professor over on Queens College campus.

[Nana-Ama Kwarteng]
Why do you enjoy teaching English and theater?

[Mr. Dunbar]
I’ve been doing this now for 17 years, and it really does just bring me so much joy. I think if I were to boil it down, I think it comes down to the stories. I just, I love stories.

And I think in English, you get to just learn about so many different types of stories, and read about so many different characters, and experience so many different things. And then theater lets you push that a little bit further, in that you’re able to kind of, in acting, almost like step into the shoes of different characters, as you try to really understand the things they’re going through. And in that regard, I think English and theater both are really good at kind of building empathy.

And I think that gets lost sometimes in other subjects, but it’s at the heart of humanities courses. It’s at the heart of English and theater. And I think that’s a big part of why I love it so much.

[Nana-Ama Kwarteng]
What is your job within the Nightingale community?

[Mr. Dunbar]
So, the Nightingale Theater Company is kind of the rebranding of our drama club, and we’ve had that name for the last couple years. And I am one of the moderators of the company. It’s me and Mr. Schwab.

[Nana-Ama Kwarteng]
What are your goals as the new AP for English?

[Mr. Dunbar]
Right now, honestly, a lot of it is just to keep doing the great things we’re doing in the department. Listen, I’ve worked here at Townsend now for eight-plus years. I have great relationships with everybody in the department, and I’m always just impressed by the teachers we have in this department.

So right now, I just kind of want to encourage them, support them, and let them know that they can keep doing what they’re doing, and if there’s anything else they want to try or any ways they want to grow, that I’m here to support them in their endeavors.

[Nana-Ama Kwarteng]
How do you think your students have impacted you?

[Mr. Dunbar]
Just like in so many ways. And I know maybe this is a little cliché, but I can’t tell you how much my students have taught me over the years. And I don’t just mean about the most recent slang, which I do appreciate.

I mean, this whole podcast situation is pretty tough. But beyond that, teaching students reminds you not to take yourself too seriously. They bring a smile to my face every day I go into class.

And they teach me and they remind me to see things with that sense of wonder. Like when you first bring up a new concept or introduce a new story, and they see it with that kind of, I don’t know, that sense of wonder that I think students have that sometimes, you know, after you’re kind of a little older, you tend to lose that. But I always appreciate that over the years.

My students have always reminded me of that, and I really appreciate it.

[Nana-Ama Kwarteng]
What is your vision for the Townsend-Harris English and Theater Department?

[Mr. Dunbar]
I think I just want to see them grow incrementally year over year. And what I mean by that is Townsend-Harris is, you know, a humanities school. And we do so many excellent things in the humanities, and I want to continue to grow those things.

So we’re doing great work with the Reading Initiative. We’re doing great work with the Writers Academy. Our musicals, I think, are getting incrementally better every year.

So honestly, I want people to continue to think of Townsend-Harris as a humanities school, and I think the best way to do that is to continue growing the things that we have in place already. But I do think that we can continue to expand and continue to improve and not kind of rest on our laurels.

[Nana-Ama Kwarteng]
Thank you for sharing. This concludes Episode 5 of Keeping It Classic. I’m your host, Nana-Ama Kwarteng, signing out.

Preserving the past, inspiring the future. Catch you next time on Keeping It Classic.

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.