A Day in the Life of Mr. Butts

December 10, 2025 - Amelia Wyatt (9)

This is Mr. Butts. He teaches Honors English 1 here at Hough, and he has been teaching at Hough for ten years now. He is going to walk us through a day in his teaching life. 

He usually arrives at school between 5:30 and 6:00 am to get his classroom set up for the day. To prepare his classroom, he types out a schedule of what they will accomplish in class that day, and he uploads all necessary files to Canvas. Next, he has his first class of the day. The main thing he does in class is try to get everyone to participate in his lessons and not only learn but truly enjoy learning. He makes jokes with his students and shows them that he really does care about their success. 

Then, Mr. Butts has his second English class. He leads them through the lesson and gives them room to work and learn, but also helps them when necessary. Mr. Butts' third period is his planning period, where he plans out his lessons. Mr. Butts works so hard to make sure that all of his students are doing as much as they can to succeed. He does regular check-ups on his students to make sure they don't have any extra stress that is stopping them from working as hard as they can. 

To Mr. Butts, the most important aspect of his teaching career is the impact that he can have on students. He said, “I recently got to go to a student’s wedding, and that was very fulfilling for me just to be able to see because I remember that kid when he was younger.” 

However, Mr. Butts feels that his students have an even bigger impact on him. He has learned that life is tough, and he has heard a variety of situations that his students are in, which made him realize that he can’t take anything for granted. He said, “ I have to keep pushing, to keep going each day, no matter what the circumstances are.” 

Through all the challenges he has faced, he said the most important trait he has developed through the years is resilience and pushing through the tough times. He finds the biggest challenge is the work-life balance. He said, “You want to do things that are fun, but at the same time, there is constant pressure to meet deadlines.”