Cody Fults, science teacher and UIL coach, and a newer face at Lake Ridge, has accomplished different feats from connecting with students to winning teacher of the month. Fults shares the journey to becoming a teacher, as well as offers advice to new teachers on how to succeed in this career.
“I will say the hardest part of teaching, especially as a new teacher, is really finding your identity as a teacher and what you’re wanting to bring to the school and the culture. So for me, that’s something that was really important when I came here to Lake Ridge, if I wanted to be involved with our students, be involved with our community,” said Fults. “And sometimes that can be intimidating, but I found everything here really welcoming. And all the people here were just like, ‘Hey, we love having you here.’ So, you know, just that general trying to fit in, and join the crowd.”
When it comes to finding the passion of the career, most teachers are influenced by previous teachers they have had. Fults was the same way in high school and not only found a passion for teaching, but also a passion for physics.
“So when I was in high school, like most teachers, you get involved in teaching because you had good teachers. And so I knew a gentleman. His name was Daniel Fields, and he was my English teacher for my junior and senior year for dual credit, and the man was a machine. He was so passionate about his subject, he could make whatever we were reading come to life, but more so he tried to help us find our own passions for things in life. And so that always stuck with me when I went into college. And when I was in college, I decided to take teaching courses, and I just fell in love with it. And so the reason I became a teacher is, like all good teachers, I had a good teacher,” said Fults.
In order to make an impact on students, many teachers try to separate themselves from others and find their own teaching styles. Fults affects students in the classroom with a caring and creative teaching style.
“I try to make learning fun. I add my own little stories and twists on things. I would say probably the biggest thing that I’ve done is I treat you guys like human beings, I treat my students like human beings. I realize they have stuff that’s going on outside of school. Physics might not always be the most important thing in the world, and so I try to be respectful of that. And you know, there’s reciprocated respect that comes from that,” said Fults.
In the classroom, students have both weaknesses and strengths. As a student, Fults had a teacher who turned one of his weaknesses into a strength in order for him to excel in other subjects as well.
“I had another teacher in high school. His name was Dr. Ron Hastings, great guy. He was a double major in Applied Physics and Mathematics. He worked for NASA for a couple of years, got bored and started teaching. And so I always, in high school, struggled with math. I took basic math courses. I took advanced stuff for everything else, but math was always my struggle, and he was able to connect with me and make the math and application make sense. I was never a big fan of just doing math for the sake of doing math, and so he taught me how to understand math as a tool and a language,” said Fults. “And so since it was the subject I struggled with the most math wise, I love physics and the topics just are cool. It makes everything in the world around us, and the universe around us actually, function, and allows us to understand it. But it was something I struggled with, and I wanted to bring that when I came into teaching physics that, hey, this is hard, this isn’t easy, but you can do it, and I’m an example of that.”
Due to societal changes, teaching can be difficult at times. Worldwide impacts have affected the way students learn and interact within the classroom, therefore making it difficult for teachers to teach the same way and having to adapt to these changes.
“This has been, for me, one of the best years of teaching I’ve had in a long time. COVID ruined so many things. It took away the camaraderie of the classroom. It took away the active learning in the classroom. And so the struggle coming out of COVID and getting back to normal, the ‘new normal’ was an issue, especially the last couple years for me as a teacher,” said Fults. “So coming here, having a fresh start, feeling welcomed, having amazing students who actually care about their learning, and just the general culture of wanting to have success here, it’s really revitalized my love of teaching.”.
Fults taught through COVID, difficult classes, and found his identity in order to become the teacher that he is today. Fults has made an impact on many students and teachers alike, just as his teachers in the past did for him.