Mr. Bill Abb has been teaching for a whopping 48 years. He’s taught across generations, even teaching some of his past students’ children and some of the current staff at Mitty. His experience teaching has been truly central in his life. Working in the math lab 4 hours a day, 2 days a week, he believed his passion for working with students was his calling and decided to pursue teaching as a career. 

Mr. Abb believes that his experience teaching, as well as being dean in the early years of Mitty, has made him more mellow and patient. He has never once yelled at a student and does not plan to in the rest of his time teaching. He even made a little promise to himself that if he yelled at a student he would retire. Teaching is more than Mr. Abb’s job—it is what makes him cheerful. He values the interactions he gets to experience every day at Mitty, talking to students and teachers, and giving advice to his colleagues. Though teaching has brought him countless wonderful memories and experiences, there’s also a few things he always found difficult, like grading papers and overall time management. However, this struggle got easier as he continued his career.

Mr. Abb has many memories and students whom he will never forget. One day, when he was stressed he saw that there was a hypnotist at the school who had hypnotized around ten students and teachers. He was fascinated by the show, and it took his mind off the worries of the day and allowed him to have a lot of fun during tougher times. Another memory is about a student whom he remembers extremely well from the class of ’94. When the student was a freshman in Algebra 2 Honors, he struggled at the start. He was devastated and told Mr. Abb he wanted to start living in the Math Lab (talk about dedication). There, he put his head down and grinded out problems with Mr. Abb, and gradually improved. Now, that student teaches at Stanford. That student’s experience is just one example of the many lives that Mr. Abb has changed through his teaching and generosity. 

From teaching, Mr. Abb has some crucial takeaways and pieces of advice. His philosophy is to enjoy every day, and he encourages teachers to give students opportunities to redeem themselves if they do badly on an assignment. Most importantly, he advises teachers “not to watch Giants baseball while you’re grading.” Though enjoying his years in the classroom, he is looking forward to retiring and live a life filled with mountain biking and playing golf. However, he will never forget his days of teaching and all the amazing interactions he had at Mitty.