Now he's building middle-school brains

After leaving construction business, Orange teacher helps fill need in science

HILLSBOROUGH -- When Steve Wright, now 44, sold his share of a construction company about five years ago, he never dreamed he'd become a schoolteacher. He didn't have a college degree.

But within months of making the business decision, he made another. He'd earn a bachelor's degree and teach math and science to middle-schoolers.

Math and science teaching jobs are among the hardest positions to fill nationwide. According to an annual North Carolina teacher turnover report, school systems here consistently rank middle-school math and science jobs among the most difficult to find licensed teachers for, right behind high school math and science and special education.

Wright chose math and science because that's where his strengths and interests lie, he said.

His choice of age group isn't as easy to explain. His own children, ages 10 and 7, haven't reached those years. He had some experience hanging out with middle-schoolers at church.

"I can't tell you why. It's the first thing that came to mind, that I wanted to teach middle school," he said.

The middle-school years have a reputation as being the awkward years, when kids act up. It puts some teachers off. Even other education students gave Wright a hard time in college.

"They all rolled their eyes and said, 'Oh, middle school,' " he said.

"What do you expect them to be? They're 12-year-old kids," he said.

He's now in his second year of teaching at Orange County's Stanford Middle School.

In mid-September, students in his class measured how quickly heat dissipates from water in glass, plastic and Styrofoam cups. Wright stood in the doorway during the class change, wearing white sneakers, khaki trousers, a plaid short-sleeved shirt and a light-green tie. His height was accentuated as half-grown boys and girls hunching over thick three-ring binders passed by him.

With safety glasses perched atop his shaved head, he assigned roles for the experiment before the students had time to fiddle with the plastic safety glasses, empty cups and thermometers in the center of each table.

"I hate for them to get bored, and I refuse to just have them take notes, take notes," he explained later.

When a group of girls accidentally spilled a beaker of water with a minute to go, he put his hands on his head for dramatic effect.

"Now what are you going to do?" he asked them.

Then he studied the girls' soaked paper and assured them they would be able to graph the data they'd collected.

When class ended and the students filed out for recess, other kids slipped in to borrow a basketball and soccer ball Wright keeps under his desk.

"He's a pretty cool teacher," said Lauren Satterfield, a seventh-grader in Wright's second-period class. "I like the way he teaches."

"He tries to make it as fun as possible," said Alexis Patten, a student in the same class.

"I find it fun, too," Wright said during his planning period. "I learn things all the time.

"Sometimes one question leads to such an enriching experience. I think, where does that come from?" he said.

Going to college at 40 had been fun, too.

Wright enrolled at N.C. Central University and joined the golf team with men half his age.

His last year, in 2006, they placed third in the national minority college golf championship.

"When he made the team, it was just a riot," said his wife, Christy.

She teaches third grade at Eno Valley Elementary School in Durham. She's still amazed that she and her husband are now swapping classroom stories.

She misses his bigger paychecks but appreciates that the family can have more than one week of vacation with him now.

Wright said he doesn't miss worrying about keeping a crew busy or making payroll on Fridays.

The stress of making sure the kids get the lessons is much more manageable.

His only complaint now is a common one among teachers who pace concrete floors all day.

"My feet hurt," he said.