Henrico's Top Teachers – Spencer Billett, Highland Springs High School

While it was a love of history that initially drew Spencer Billett to his profession, it didn't take long for him to discover that the rewards of teaching went well beyond the subject matter.

People don't usually think of teaching as a creative job, Billett says, but he considers it an art. From devising ways for students to practice their writing, to mulling over ways to illustrate a point or connect various topics or historical events, he is constantly thinking about how to adapt lessons to mesh with individual students' strengths, weaknesses and needs.

"Teaching is a lot like continuously working on a moving puzzle," he says. "There’s always some intense problem that needs a creative solution. It’s very intellectually stimulating."

The pandemic year posed even greater creative challenges as Billett's classroom shifted to his home – where a newborn daughter only added to the disruption.

"Teaching with her at home for the first part of the year was very difficult," Billett says, noting that as much as he loves all his students – past and present – he deeply appreciates the patience and understanding of this year's students in particular.

"For every student that heard my daughter crying in the background during a lesson and told me to go to her and that they didn’t mind, I am eternally grateful, " he says. "And I really can’t emphasize that enough."

The appreciation goes both ways, said a student who wrote to nominate Billett.

Despite all the drawbacks of teaching online, the student said, Billett keeps his students interested and engaged, and his passion for his subject radiates through the screen.

"He makes history entertaining and memorable, and makes sure we understand the curriculum," the student said.

Coincidentally, those comments are almost identical to the praise Billett heaps on his high school AP U.S. history teacher.

Although he had many teachers he loved – citing his fourth grade teacher in particular as "being exceptionally kind and making the classroom a very welcoming place" – it was his history teacher who helped set him on his future career path.

"She really shaped my love for that subject," he says, "and she worked incredibly hard to make it both a challenging and interesting class."

Having turned to teaching somewhat automatically – because he'd "always heard" that's what history-lovers should do – Billett was pleased to find how much he enjoys interacting with students and crafting lessons that pique their curiosity. He delights in the occasional notes and comments from students, and adds that a few have even presented him with impromptu sketches of him leading a class.

"Maybe they should have been paying closer attention," he says of the student-drawn portraits. "But I always find it funny, and I think it speaks to a level of comfort that is a compliment in its own way."

Even the most mundane and ordinary days in the classroom can be gratifying, Billett says, when they are spent with young people immersed in learning.

As he describes it, "You look around in the middle of a lesson, and realize that everything is humming perfectly. Either students are working with each other on something, or are intensely focused. And maybe a few students have a question, so you bounce around a little helping students out and making a joke here and there.

"And honestly, it feels pretty transcendent."