A career as an English teacher was not always a first choice for Brian Domokos. Regarded as a high energy teacher, Domokos was a theatre major, studying into a society in which he said to be very fake. Finding his way to start a career in English, many of his experiences influenced his time in the classroom. A semester was all it took for Domokos to realize that being a theatre major wasn’t his preferred lifestyle. “Theatre people are very fake, they’re your best friend until you get a role that they want,” Domokos said. “It’s a very inauthentic community, no one seems very real.” As a result, he dropped the major after a semester of work and became an English teacher.
Domokos had a clear opinion on his choice of subject. “I always knew that if I would teach anything it would be English, because you get to talk about life,” said Domokos. Looking for a foundation, he started his first year of teaching at Adams City Middle School, Commerce City, where he found a very surprising change in culture. Teaching in a school with a large poor population, he said he never realized that being poor is different from the ways of middle class. Giving an example, he said that they way people treat and respect others was different, such as confessing “sorry” being taken as a sign of weakness.
Teaching at Highlands Ranch High School, he now compares the two schools. “I didn’t realize how bad it was until I was teaching here,” he said. “I haven’t been cussed out yet. I used to be cussed at every single day when I taught at the middle school.” The new atmosphere provided Domokos with the chance to make class as entertaining as he can. Enjoying forming connections with his students, and watching them learn.
“It’s a fake personality I put on; it’s my philosophy,” Domokos said, “I can look like an idiot, and if I look like an idiot then you’re going to pay attention to me and maybe learn something.”
Domokos is a well renowned teacher for HRHS, learning to adapt from his time as a theatre major, and an Adam’s City teacher, he has set a strong foundation for himself and for his students.
Lara Mathews, guest reporter
