Congratulations, Mr. Dircks

Hannah Rubin, Staff Writer

Mr. Dircks is a retiring social studies teacher at Mepham High School. He taught American history and Hands on History which is part of the Gilder Lehrman program.

One of the reasons why Mr. Dircks was such a great teacher was because he created excellent projects for his students that required them to think outside of the box. In Hands on History, we wrote and performed raps about historical figures, we designed monuments for events that we thought should be remembered in American history, and we did a project on an artifact from our family history. With each one of the projects we completed in Gilder Lehrman, we learned different skills and practiced speaking in front of the class. At the beginning of the year it was nerve racking to present in front of the class, but with each presentation it got easier.

The projects that Mr. Dircks created were interactive and fun. He created a social studies class unlike any other. We learned American history, however, it did not feel like we were learning because we were doing fun projects, and researching historical topics that interested us.

While I sat in United States history this year, I remembered learning many of the topics discussed in Mr. Dircks’ Hands on History Class. I knew the information before it was even taught in my class because of Hands on History, and all of the knowledge that Mr. Dircks left with us. Hands on History was a class where we had the opportunity to learn in a way that many of us had not experienced before. I want to thank Mr. Dircks for giving us the opportunity to learn in that new way. I will never forget my Alice Paul rap, or my Boston Marathon Memorial project, or my Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site commercial.

Many of his American history students also felt that Mr. Dircks was an excellent teacher who helped them to enjoy learning about history. They appreciated how well he explained the topics that they were discussing, and the fact that he was always enthusiastic about what he was teaching. Multiple of his students claimed that the fact that he was so interested in history made learning from him a lot more fascinating. Additionally, his students were grateful for the fact that he was always willing to answer questions, and that he was incredibly helpful at extra help. Mepham is incredibly lucky to have had Mr. Dircks as a teacher, and we hope that he has a wonderful retirement.