By: Gage Miskimen [Feature Editor] @gagemisky

Teaching is a career that forms relationships and strengths bonds within the school. Teachers can have strong bonds with students and fellow teachers due to the great amount of time spent together.

Mr. Marc Ferguson was a teacher at Marion for 35 years before he retired. He is currently a substitute teacher from time to time. He taught virtually every English class other than AP and film studies and still teaches classes for Kirkwood. His favorite class to teach was creative writing, “Creative writing is an unusual writing that most kids don’t get to do in school, so they appreciate it and I get to see the talent that students have.”

But even after all those years of teaching, Ferguson is enjoying the sub life for a reason which seems pretty beneficial, “It’s a total stress free day. I’m not going to be here at school tomorrow. It’s like having a grandkid, you get to spend great time with them, but once you’re sick of them, you get to leave.” Ferguson said with a laugh.

Just like teaching full-time, subbing has it’s ups and downs. One of the reasons Ferguson subs is to be able to come back to Marion, “I get to see the kids. I still coach track and teach classes that seniors have. Even though I’ve been gone a couple years, people still know who I am and it’s nice seeing the staff.” Ferguson stated. But there’s also a downside, “You’re only here for a short time so there’s a lot of kids you don’t know. So if you’re having trouble with a student, it’s because they don’t know you. Like earlier today, there were a couple students that I just wish I could’ve worked with more.”

With an extensive career like Ferguson, there have been some interesting experiences during his time teaching full-time, “When I was young, subs here would think I was a student. One time I went into a classroom to talk to a student that I needed to talk to and the sub handed me a detention slip for talking to the student.”

Even though the teacher’s job is to teach their students, students tend to also teach the teacher and Ferguson agrees with that, “I’ve learned a lot about life in general just being in a room and watching interaction among students. Whether it’s writing or literature, students still teach me things. I like to think of myself as the “lead learner” in the room. A lot of things come from the students, just like students learn from each other, I learn from them.” Ferguson informed.

Going from teaching full-time to being a substitute every once in a while can be a huge change and Ferguson likes subbing because it lets him still be involved in the school and community. He still gets to interact with the students and teach them new things, while they also still teach him. “It’s been a nice transition.” Ferguson said. “I came here for 35 years everyday. If I just stopped cold turkey, I would’ve had a hard time. I see Marion as my family, but I’m retired now. I got the “tired” part down, I’m still working on the “Re”.