After working in education for 30 years, Nancy Witt has been assigned to teach Advanced Placement United States History and Government at Clark Magnet.

For the past eight years, she was the curriculum coach teacher specialist for Glendale Unified School District for history and social science. Witt also helped coordinate the Teaching American History Grant, a program that places more emphasis for the professional development of history teachers in the GUSD area.

Witt said she is happy to return to teaching in a classroom and coming to Clark to teach five periods. “Needless to say, I’m excited to be here,” she said. “The block schedule has me intrigued. I’ve never taught under a block schedule so I’m excited about that.”

She also observed other differences that sets Clark apart from other schools. “It’s a very neat and clean school,” she said, “It’s smaller, especially since I taught at Glendale High School and Crescenta Valley High School.”

Witt plans to place her focus on getting to know the school and the students for her first year. She plans to challenge her students to think deeply, do research and discuss their findings based on their evidence.

Her ultimate goal, however, is for her students to learn to love and enjoy US History and American Government. “I’m excited to try new things since I haven’t taught in a while,” she said. “There’s a lot of lessons and lots of things that I learned that I’m anxious to try out,” she said.

In her free time, Witt enjoys reading and practicing yoga. In the future, she hopes to bring History Day, a nationwide academic competition, to Clark.