With only three years of teaching experience, World History and Geography teacher, Drew Donelson, makes an effort to be a positive impact on his students. 

Donelson grew up in Arlington, Texas and attended the University of North Texas for Psychology. He graduated in 2015 with a bachelors in psychology and in 2021 with a masters in performance psychology. It wasn’t in Donelson’s plan to become a teacher, until he worked with high school students during an internship he realized what he truly wanted to do. 

“When I was in my masters program, I did an internship with a high school softball team, and I saw the impact that I had made with them, just the fact that I could make a difference there. I thought, I’ll just give it a shot and see what happens,” said Donelson. 

After Donelson realized he wanted to pursue a career in education, he completed an online program where he learned about every level of education. After the program, he came to Lake Ridge in 2022 and completed a year-long internship. Since it was his first year as a teacher, Donelson had some hardships, but he used his experience in psychology to help him.  

“It was my first year and I didn’t really know what I was doing, and I kind of had to figure it out on the fly. I was using what I learned about the psychology of how people learn, to teach myself the subject that I was teaching,”  said Donelson. “I learned about the theory of learning and how the brain works with learning. A lot of behavior is a big part of psychology and how we are as people. That really helps with dealing with teenagers a lot, it just helps to kind of navigate some of the more tricky situations.” 

Donelson has taught World History and Geography for three years at Lake Ridge. When he was in high school, Donelson never liked history. He was an AP student and history was always his least favorite subject. Now as a history teacher, he has grown to enjoy the subject. 

“I just did history in school because I was told I had to. It wasn’t until I saw and I started to understand how the world worked. I think it is incredibly important for people to learn about it and if you understand it now, your life is going to be a lot easier going forward,” said Donelson.  

As the years have gone by Donelson has grown in his teaching skills, and has learned how to deal with classroom management that best works for him. 

“I’ve learned a lot over the last three years on how to deal with problems as they come, and how to explain things in a better way that make sense to people, because there are things that make sense to me but don’t to other people. So I have to try and incorporate the things that I’ve learned along the way to reach more and more people as I go,” said Donelson. 

Like any other teacher, Donelson has his strengths and weaknesses. One thing he notes is that he struggles with managing behaviors, but Donelson has learned ways to try and improve. 

“I constantly have to get better at managing some of the behaviors that happen and nipping them in the bud before they get to a bad point. That was the biggest struggle I had my first year. It was the biggest struggle I had last year and it’s the biggest struggle I have this year,” said Donelson. “When I see it, I call it out, not just let it happen because I don’t feel like dealing with it that day. I’d say if I let it go one time, I will let it go in the future and it’ll snowball into a bigger issue.” 

In Mansfield ISD, the district provides first year teachers with mentors. They are in place so teachers have somebody they can go to and ask for guidance, opinions, or some advice. 

“My first year, my mentor was Coach Whisenhunt, and then last year it was Rena Long. Coach Wiz gave me what I needed. He helped me out when he could, but he was a coach, so it was kind of hard to get in touch with him sometimes. But I just went and talked to him if I ever needed some guidance or if I had a question about something,” said Donelson. 

Throughout his teaching years, he has developed a certain teaching style that is quite different from the traditional way of the classroom. 

“Sarcasm is my biggest weapon, and it’s the way that I can best connect with people the most. It is just who I am as a person, I’m sarcastic. I can be serious when I need to but for the most part, it’s history, it doesn’t have to be that serious,” said Donelson. “I do go and watch other people teach and they are more structured than I am. They are much more rigid than I am. I think that my style works for me and I think it only works for me because of who I am and how I carry myself.” 

With Donelson’s unique teaching style, he has been criticized for his work and the way he has a more relaxed and comfortable classroom environment. 

“People ask me all the time ‘why are you learning with them’ ‘why aren’t you having them do this thing’ and ‘why aren’t you having them do that’ and it just works for me. I think the relationship part is the much more important thing. You know history content will come and go but it’s much more important the impact that you can make on everybody individually,” said Donelson. 

Donelson makes an effort to build relationships with students from day one, and to ensure he makes all students feel welcome and have a comfortable learning environment. 

“From day one, I gave them the rules and the norms, there are the expectations but most of the rest of it is me. This is who I am. Tell me about yourself. I try to put faces to names and play around with people, don’t be so serious about it,” said Donelson. “Building relationships is the most important thing you can do, because if they don’t respect you then they are not going to pay attention. Building relationships should come before anything.” 

Donelson aims to have a comfortable environment where students wish to learn, not just a place where they have to be. He uses various techniques such as lamps and not using seating charts.

“Comfortability starts with the settings that I have. I don’t use overhead lights, I always use lamps, I try to provide students with as many options as I can in terms of where people can sit. I am not a big believer in seating charts. I know it works for some people but it’s mostly creating a safer environment and a more comfortable relaxed environment that lets people feel more at ease,” said Donelson. 

As years go by, Donelson has received advice from various educators but something that he wishes that someone told him when he first started teaching, and something that he advises to other future educators, is to not take things too seriously. 

“Some advice I would give to people or I wish someone would have told me is ‘don’t be overly serious’. Do what works for you. Don’t try and make yourself do what everyone else does. Find a style that works for you and run with it,” said Donelson. 

Drew Donelson, a non-traditional history teacher with a background in psychology enjoys his teaching journey. His first teaching experience was challenging, requiring him to adapt quickly. He emphasizes the importance of building relationships with students using humor, classroom environment, and a relaxed setting. Despite his initial struggle, Donelson has developed a unique teaching style by incorporating his psychology background.