Greg McFall, MAEd ’07 came from three generations of teachers, but it took him a while to find his own way into the classroom. When he did, 由于他在奥兰治县公立学校的创新和关系教学风格，他被评为加州年度教师.
麦克福尔说:“一旦我知道我想教书，我就真的努力成为我这门手艺的大师。. “我对事物进行调整和调整，使它们对我自己和孩子们都有趣. 我认为这就是诀窍，你必须寻找非传统的方法, to take the kids wherever they are and have exciting lessons, and build upon each success. It takes time.”
McFall’s first career path was in corrections. 他获得了犯罪学学士学位，并开始在少管所担任缓刑副顾问. “这很困难，因为当他们进入惩教所时，很难改变人们的生活,” he says.
当一个朋友给他一份卖保险的工作时，麦克福尔的幻想破灭了，接受了这份工作.
他表示:“我(在保险业)很成功，但总缺少一些东西。.
十年后，作为一名武术学校的学生，他重新找回了自己的教学激情, where he eventually earned his black belt. One of the owners suggested he start teaching. 麦克福尔回忆起关键的一天，一位母亲送两个兄弟去上课.
“It was a complete mess,” he says. “They were bouncing off the walls. 我很高兴那天结束的时候，我让他们跪下来，一对一地和他们交谈. 当我们慢慢发展关系时，我了解到他们有家庭问题，他们在学校表现不好. 通过武术，我能够与他们建立联系，并建立一些纪律. 这慢慢转化为更好的成绩，与父母更好的关系. 我的妻子是一名教师，她总是有关于成功的故事，我想, ‘I really want to do this.“我觉得我可以和其他人很好地沟通，并激励他们.”
我愿意冒险，愿意失败，愿意看起来很可笑.
他卖掉了自己的保险公司，同时上了三所大学, earning his degree in U.S. 历史在两年内通过“开车来来回回”不同的校园.
麦克福尔说:“我一直都是目标驱动型的，但我从来没有如此专注于某件事. “I had a goal and that belief in God and in what I was doing.”
Faith was a foundational part of his life as well. 当他12岁的时候，他和他的兄弟一起信了主. “It was a turning moment in my life,” McFall says. “It set the stage.”
A New Career
麦克福尔在奥兰治县的一所中学找到了一份工作，教授语言艺术、历史和阅读. “It was beautiful. It was great,” he says. “我能够深入研究历史思维技能，并将其与语言和阅读标准联系起来, biography, creative writing, poetry. It lends itself to something I was good at, 哪一种是灌输对学习的热爱，让孩子们更多地成为文艺复兴时期的思想家，而不是专注于一门学科.”
But his first day also brought an eyeopening lesson.
“I had prepared an awesome lesson on dangling modifiers, 希望孩子们能明白我在说什么,” he says. “There were wonderful visuals, overhead transparencies. 我向外看，没有人说话，我想，‘多么投入的观众啊.’ Then a girl put a note on my overhead. I read it aloud thinking it was a question. ‘Dear Mr. McFall. You have a booger out your nose.’ That was reality shock. 他们看的不是我，而是从我鼻子里伸出来的鼻屎. I realized you have to make it accessible and engaging to kids. I picked that up right away.”
His goal became to inspire natural curiosity. “You can’t force kids to learn. 你只需要让它足够有趣，并激发人们去做它的欲望。. 他开发了他所谓的“一套技巧”，使课堂学习更有吸引力. He uses a lot of music, gets kids up and moving around, cooks food and has guests come in to share their experiences.
Risk-taking is a big factor: “我愿意冒险，愿意失败，愿意看起来很可笑,” he says. “我试图让学生们尝试尽可能多的新事物，直到他们找到自己擅长的东西，然后把这种成功带到其他班级.”
You can’t force kids to learn. 你只需要让它足够有趣，并激发人们去做它的欲望.
One tool was surfing, McFall’s passion and hobby for forty years. With little encouragement from the school administration, he started a surfing club fourteen years ago, 他在车库旧货拍卖会上搜寻潜水服和冲浪板，以便借给孩子们. 他用学习冲浪的过程来教孩子们如何克服生活中的挑战.
他说:“有些孩子马上就能学会，而有些孩子则需要经历每一步。. “You have to go through certain challenges to get to your goal. I try to instill that in kids. I’ve noticed that great teachers love challenges. 他们总是挑战自己学习新事物，不仅在课堂上，而且在生活中.”
The club’s popularity grew and other teachers got involved. Then they started taking out special education students.
“That was a little more intense,” McFall says.
To ease them into it, he brought a bunch of sand from the beach into the classroom, along with blue construction paper to simulate the ocean, and surf music playing in the background.
“我希望尽可能多地消除对他们来说是新的变量. And it worked,” he says.
Kids with severe autism, 脑瘫和其他残疾患者与麦克福尔和一名职业治疗师一起下水，并“喜欢它”. It was a big success. They held onto boards screaming and shouting. The ocean can be very therapeutic. It’s as close to God as some kids ever get.”
In addition to the surfing club, McFall also leads the track and field club, and has a club of students who join him for lunch every day.
“We listen to music and talk,” he says. “Kids feel a sense of belonging. It makes a connection. Their attention level is better in the classroom, they’re more on task, they smile more, are more respectful and wanting to please.”
In the mid-2000s, McFall enrolled in Concordia’s Master of Arts in Education: Curriculum and Instruction program.
他说:“我喜欢做队列研究，在两年的时间里认识同样的人。. “我喜欢康科迪亚的地方在于，它把教学法和课堂上的实际应用很好地结合在了一起. It was really tailored to the working educator. 所有的老师都是以前或现在的教育工作者，知道日常生活是什么样的. It was really nicely crafted for working professionals. 我知道这将促进我的职业发展，它确实做到了.”
Soon after graduating, 麦克福尔是2008年被评为加州年度教师的五位教育工作者之一. 他已经被评为地区年度教师和奥兰治县年度教师.
“Mr. 麦克福尔真的相信他的学生和他们成功的能力,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. “他致力于寻找适合社会和文化经验有限的学生的方法，并以他们的成就为基础, one success at a time.”
McFall feels that “you grow into that award. 我的目标是在我50多岁的时候继续和学生们建立积极的联系, being a positive role model, 向孩子们展示历史中有更多的东西适合现实世界……我祈祷并永远记住，生命是脆弱的，要睁大眼睛, your ears open to help people. If you allow that to occur, pretty miraculous things can happen.”