Keepin’ It Real:
A Profile of Keith Keeler
NEIRAD enilno edition
The task was simple: create a works cited page. This was followed by a seemingly harmless threat made by history teacher Keith Keeler. If students didn’t correctly follow his instructions, Keeler told them he would fight them. When such words come out of a teacher’s mouth, they are often meant as a joke. Slacker students of Keeler’s should take those words with a hint of seriousness though, because he had received Sock’Em Boppers as a Christmas present from a student and might unexpectedly take them out.
Keith Keeler was born on December 7, 1981, of which he says must have meant he was “fated to be a history teacher” because “it’s the Day of Infamy”. Growing up in Mt. Kisco, New York, Keeler hasn’t always had fun experiences in history classes; he admits he hasn’t always been interested in the subject. In high school, his history teachers didn’t make the class interesting enough to attract his attention. His interest in history only began when he took a required history course in college taught by Dr. Mires. Keeler liked how Mires was able to connect history to current life. He remembers a class on women’s rights where she not only talked about various points in history, but had the class think about the state of women’s rights in that year. These connections made the subject seem more interesting and important to Keeler.
With a new interest in history, Keeler decided to become a teacher in his sophomore year. “In a way, I had already been a teacher,” Keeler notes. He explains that he liked to help other students learn. After graduating, Keeler started his teaching career as an assistant teacher in Pennsylvania. After a year, he continued to DHS where he is now in his third year of teaching. He feels positive about his role as a teacher, saying he is able to connect to his students through his lessons. Keeler’s students appreciate his teaching style. “He makes class interesting so it's really easy to follow and I can remember things in that class,” explains Western Civ student Julie Lee. Another student, Emily Evans, agrees. “[Keeler] teaches us everything we need to know. He makes it fun and easier to understand…he’s always making jokes.” Many of Keeler’s students feel the same way about him.
A few students in one of Keeler’s western civilization class remember a joke from a few months ago. The students were sitting at their desks engaged learning activities when Keeler announced that if he ever had a son, he would name him Oglethorpe.
“I bet you ten bucks you won’t name your son Oglethorpe,” one student said, laughing.
Keeler kept a straight face and insisted, “No, I’m really going to name my son Oglethorpe.” From then on, Keeler has occasionally mentioned his future son Oglethorpe in the course of class discussions.
Such discussions are always based on the current chapter in the textbook, but Keeler always finds a way to relate the topic to his life. During a recent Western Civ class on the use of poison gases in World War I, the students also learned bits about Keeler’s college life, past sicknesses, and former jobs.
“In college, I decided to be a good roommate and clean the bathroom in our dorm,” he told his students. “For an hour I cleaned the bathroom floor with Clorox and I was inhaling the fumes the whole time. I was sick for two or three weeks after that.”
This story was followed by another anecdote. “I used to work for a plumber. We were working in a pool, putting in the chlorine…we were told to wear a mask when we would open up the [compartment where the chlorine was put in] or we would pass out. Once one of the workers forgot and he passed out, and the person who went to get him passed out too.”
A student commented on the latter anecdote, “That’s like [the] Grey’s Anatomy [episode “Wishin’ and Hopin’]…with the toxic blood.”
Another student posed a question, and the class suddenly had jumped into a discussion of World War I.
Keeler doesn’t confine himself only to the school. He recently went on the three-week China Exchange Trip. He says it was a good experience for to be exposed to the culture and lifestyle of a different part of the world. Keeler admits, however, life wasn’t so different in China than it is in America. It turns out that the teacher he was staying with spent about the same amount of time on lesson planning and grading papers as he did. The lifestyle of the Chinese people wasn’t radically different either. One difference Keeler did notice was an openly sexist attitude. When the group was traveling and a Chinese person would approach them, he would always consult with Keeler first instead of to the other chaperone, English teacher Ann Armiger. Keeler also observed that the Chinese loved to eat. Food portions were notably bigger and the hosts were always trying to please the guests, so new courses were constantly being brought out. Keeler remembers a night in China when he ate an especially large amount of food. He was having dinner at a restaurant with the host mom; the host dad was in another room. After he had eaten a full meal, the host father sent over another course. After finishing that course, plates of dumplings arrived at the table. Keeler enjoyed his time spent in China absorbing the culture.
The China trip wasn’t Keeler’s first experience in an exchange program; he had studied abroad in Italy while in college. He and his group went to various places around Italy, including big cities such as Rome, Florence, and Venice. When the group tried to go to Venice, it was pouring rain, so the instructor decided to go to Venice a different day because the city could be flooded [Venice is partially underwater]. However, Keeler and a few friends had ran ahead to get tickets for the boat to Venice. When they arrived, it was raining so hard that a restaurant they went to gave them tablecloths to put over their clothes because their clothes were soaked through.
Keeler enjoys traveling, but admits he hasn’t been west of Ohio yet. “I’m hoping to go somewhere this summer, though,” he adds. Because Keeler has many friends scattered throughout the northeast, he sometimes spends a weekend driving up to visit some of them. His mind is still focused on history; Keeler passes his time in the car by listening to history books-on-tape.
Keeler is the advisor of Darien High School’s Building with Books club. The organization’s Darien chapter is run by students at DHS. Building with Books is a national organization that raises money to build schools in developing countries; the Darien chapter is currently raising money to build a school in Mali, a struggling country in West Africa. As a teacher, Keeler believes that “education is important to kids in developing countries because it could help them make better life decisions.” One of Keeler’s favorite times at Building with Books was when they hosted a party for Scofield Manor (a home in Stamford for people who need life assistance) residents in the Darien High School auxiliary cafeteria. “It was a big party—we played bingo and had music—it was a lot of fun.”
Keeler had certainly had his share of experiences in the DHS building and across the world. For success in life, he advises students to “keep it real and do your work.”
