Currently in his eighth year at Saint Francis, Mr. David Cobb is well-known among students of all grades. He’s taught a variety of classes, including Intermediate Algebra; Algebra 2; regular, Honors, and AP Biology; Conceptual Physics; Chemistry; and regular and AP Environmental Science. He is also an advisor as part of the SF Thrive program, and he coaches wrestling.
The Lancer: From a student perspective, what was your experience like in high school and university?
Mr. David Cobb: I liked my high school experience because, I don’t know if I necessarily realized it at the time, but I didn’t realize how well I was going to feel prepared for college. I remember going to college and feeling like I had a lot of free time because I would go to my classes—most of the time I would have classes from nine until noon, or something like that—and I would get back, and a lot of my other friends had classes in the early afternoon, so I would get my homework done when they were in class, then I had a lot of free time to to get other stuff done. Especially my first year. Then I wrestled my last four years of college; that actually took up a lot more time, but I still felt like I had a good amount of free time because I felt like I knew how to do my classes the best, how I studied the best, and things like that.
TL: Which high school did you go to?
DC: I went to Bellarmine.
TL: Bellarmine…
DC: I know, I know. But I’m here! I’ve turned to the light; I got away from the dark side.
TL: And which university?
DC: I went to Oregon State for a year, and then I went to UC Davis for four years. And I have a master’s degree from San Jose State.
TL: What led you to become a teacher? Was it something you always knew you wanted to do, or more of a gradual realization?
DC: For a long time, I wanted to be a vet, so I took Latin in high school, because I thought that would help me with the Latin names of different things. I realized when I was in college—I started out as a chem major in college—and I realized that I was good at explaining difficult concepts to people. I had some friends who were taking a class that I had already taken, and I was able to help them prepare for their tests, talking through the material and explaining the material to them. I realized I was good at that, and I enjoyed that. Right out of college, I had a sales job, and I hated it and I was terrible at it. But I was coaching at the time, so I realized that I liked working with high school kids, and then I went back and started working on taking some classes, working on my master’s degree.
TL: What makes Saint Francis special to you as an educator, and how do you think it reflects in students’ experiences?
DC: I really enjoy all the faculty and staff relationships, and the students. You guys are amazing. It’s so much fun to have kids come in and be interested in the material and in each other’s lives inside and outside of the classroom. And being able to see all of you guys grow over the course of four years, you go from, I don’t want to say little kids, but from young people to almost-adults or adults ready to go off and do everything you’re going to do when you go to college. That’s the best thing.
TL: What do you like to do outside of the classroom?
DC: I coach wrestling. I like to work out. I like to spend time with my three kids—one of them should be a freshman here in two years, which is scary. But yeah, stuff like that, family and friends. We like to go see movies and go to the beach.
TL: Do you have a favorite movie?
DC: I like the movie Tombstone. You probably never heard of it; it’s an old movie. Coach Meulman really likes that movie, too. It’s a really fun, good movie.
TL: Could you explain your teaching philosophy and how you exemplify it in the classroom?
DC: I like it when students are able to interact and talk and share and discuss things I tell students all the time at the beginning of class, if we’re having a discussion about something, even if it’s not related to the topic I wanted to go over, but there’s value to it, I’m not going to stop that. We can always come back to whatever it is that we need to discuss. But I want the students to enjoy their time in class. I’ve had students tell me they don’t necessarily like the subject matter, but they either don’t mind coming to class or they like coming to class. I hope it’s because they enjoy the experience being in the classroom. If that’s the case, then hopefully they’re going to get something out of the class, even if it’s not their favorite subject.
TL: What is the most rewarding and most taxing part of your job?
DC: The most taxing is probably grading, going through all that and trying to give feedback on the work that students are doing and have it be useful. The taxing thing about that, though, is providing that information and then not having students look at that; it can be hard because I know there is benefit and value to it. But I think sometimes students forget to do that, or they think, oh, I should go talk about that and they forget. The rewarding part is when students have that aha moment when they’re doing something, and then you’re explaining something to them and they go, ohhh. That’s the best part, when maybe they weren’t understanding before and they understand now.
TL: Do you have any advice for students who are unsure of what they want to do in the future?
DC: Try lots of different things. I’ve had students tell me, “Well, I’m never going to use this.” Yeah, you might not, but you also don’t realize that you may not know what you want to do now. You might think you know what you want to do now. It might be completely different when you get to college and beyond, but a lot of people don’t have a career in whatever they study in college, and that’s okay, right? So try lots of different things and eventually you’ll find something that you really enjoy, and then it’ll make it seem a lot easier. Whatever it is you’re studying will seem a lot easier once you find something that you are passionate about.
TL: Now we have some lightning round questions. Outside of bio, what is your favorite science?
DC: Chemistry.
TL: Mr. Ikezi would be disappointed.
DC: I know Mr. Ikezi is gonna be mad, but I started out as a chem major. That was my original major, focusing on chemistry.
TL: What are three words you’d use to convince students to take your class?
DC: Educational, challenging, fun. Hopefully they don’t mind the challenging one.
TL: What is your favorite food?
DC: I’m gonna say pizza.
TL: Who’s your favorite wrestler?
DC: I’m gonna go with Dan Gable. You’ve probably never heard of him.
TL: And last one, what is your favorite ice cream flavor, and which brand?
DC: Ben and Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.
Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
