Staking out a career
By Jennifer Colton - Argus Observer
Friday, March 23, 2007 12:11 PM PDT
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| Jennifer Colton | Argus Observer
New Plymouth High School English Teacher Ron Beutler discusses The Great Gatsby with students — including Kirk Ramsey (front), 18, and Cody Johnson, 17 — in his Advanced Placement English class Thursday. Beutler has taught at NPHS for 22 years.
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New Plymouth - From the Great Gatsby to the Beach Boys, Ron Beutler understands the rhythm of words.
As an English instructor at New Plymouth High School, Beutler teaches sophomore English and two sections of reading, as well as his favorite class, Advanced Placement English.
However, Beutler said teaching was not his first career choice.
When Beutler first enrolled at Albertson College, he majored in English with an emphasis in drama, but then he changed to a music major — eventually dropping out completely to become a professional musician.
For the next decade, Beutler traveled the nation as a drummer, playing in clubs, lounges and parties with two rock ‘n roll bands — first the Crystal Ship and then Brandywine — and he recorded an album, appeared in a Seattle television show and opened for the Beach Boys.
Beutler and his wife continued to travel until she became pregnant with the first of his two children.
“We thought it was best to come home to raise our children rather than try to raise them on the road,” he said.
The couple returned to New Plymouth where Beutler worked a variety of jobs until he decided to go back to school in 1983.
“I had a high school mentor/teacher who was very instrumental in my decision,” he said. “He was a music teacher for 34 years and had a big influence on me with the type of teacher he was.”
Beutler then student-taught in Caldwell and graduated from college in 1985 — the same year he began teaching in New Plymouth.
“They had the big school fire where the original school burnt down,” he said. “A lot of teachers didn’t want to deal with teaching without a high school building. I was in the public library downtown my first year (teaching).”
Beutler is now in his 22nd year at New Plymouth.
“The kids all get a big hoot when I tell them I used to be a rock ‘n roll musician,” he said.
Music is still a part of his life, Beutler said, and he and his current wife — he was divorced and remarried — now lead a children’s choir.
Teaching also keeps Beutler busy.
“My favorite part of teaching would have to be the kids, watching them grow. The classes I teach give me the opportunity to work with them from freshmen through when they graduate,” he said. “The kids are probably also the most frustrating part. There are some students you just can’t reach or can’t connect with.”
Beutler brings the same enthusiasm he used as a musician into the classroom, whether engaging students in a discussion about The Great Gatsby or giving his classes timed writings.
“We do a project where the kids make their own magazines,” he said. “They have to write all their own articles. It gives them a chance to be hands on and creative , rather than just listen to me lecture.”
Beutler said he did not know what his future plans were because so much depends on family.
“I have five or six years to go (until retirement), and I look forward to that,” he said. “But I know I’ll miss the kids.”
