Henrico's Top Teachers – Davis Mugford, J.R. Tucker High School, history

For many adults who lived through the upheaval of 2020, the pandemic kindled a reevaluation of priorities.

Davis Mugford was among them.

Although his wife was a teacher, he was on a different career path at the time.

"I suddenly found myself," he said, "wanting to do something where I could be directly of service to others."

Observing his wife's passion for her vocation, he said, inspired him to try his hand at teaching as well.

He discovered that he loved it.

"And I have never looked back."

According to his history students at J.R. Tucker High School, he's pretty good at teaching, besides.

One student who wrote to nominate Mugford noted that he excels at explaining the material in a way that his students can understand.

"It makes me look forward to class," the student said.

Another student who lauded the learning environment in Mugford's class wrote that he "allows students to be casual and comfortable around him, creating a fun and engaging atmosphere."

Students also praised Mugford's sensitivity to his students' needs and his "willingness to help his students improve." When the teacher observed a student "going through a rough patch" and struggling under the academic load, he was quick to notify the teen's parents and keep them up-to-date on progress, while adjusting a deadline or two to allow the student to catch up.

"Mr. Mugford," the student wrote, "has displayed nothing but pure patience and care for his students in the most challenging situations."

While Mugford admits that working with teenagers presents challenges, he says the most difficult challenges arise less from students themselves, and more from the devices that distract them from their studies.

Keeping students focused on the task of learning is a constant battle, Mugford says, when cell phones are in the classroom. "We simply cannot compete with TikTok and Instagram!"

Calling phone use an obsession that borders on addiction, Mugford points out that it harms students not just academically but socially, and tells parents that setting "firm boundaries" on phone usage benefits not only their child's grades, but also his or her mental health.

All in all, however, Mugford believes the rewards of teaching far outweigh the challenges. He says that there are few better feelings a teacher can have than seeing a student have that "light-bulb" moment and finally "get" a lesson.

And now that he has taught long enough to see some former students graduate, Mugford gets to enjoy another reward of teaching: the students who tell him that he made a difference in their lives.

Recently, he says, a graduating student told him that she could never have been so successful without him as a teacher. Although he downplays his role and believes this "talented and smart" teenager was exaggerating his impact, Mugford nevertheless admits that hearing those words from a student brought him to the point of tears.

"Those," he says, "are the kinds of moments you only get to experience by being a teacher."