After 15 years at GDS, high school English teacher Chris Thompson will retire at the end of the 2023-24 school year. He first came to GDS in 1995.
Currently, Thompson teaches English 9 and 10. In the past, however, he has taught both English 11 and 12. He has also taught numerous electives, such as American Literature, Native American Literature and American Studies, at GDS. Thompson has also run a writing center for the high school and co-chair a committee to replace the AP program with High School Studio Arts teacher Nick Ryan.
Thompson said that his long commute from Virginia was an important factor in his decision to retire.
“He is very witty and caring about engaging in all sorts of things, especially his love of literature,” English Department Chair Katherine Dunbar said. Dunbar said she is not only a long-time colleague but also a friend of Thompson because they have worked together for almost 20 years.
Thompson has left GDS once before, in 2009, when he decided to move to California and teach at Marlborough, an all-girls high school, to support his wife’s job opportunity at the Rand Corporation. He stayed in California for 12 years before opting to move back to the D.C. area in 2021 when his wife accepted a new job at Princeton.
Thompson came back to DC and was looking for a job. “I had decided I would spend a year just subbing or part-time teaching, so I called GDS and Kevin Barr [a former associate head of school helping with hiring] said we need someone full-time and for some reason, I said yes,” Thompson said.
“One of the things that really drew me back was my colleagues. I missed the warm and intellectual collegiality at GDS,” Thompson said.
Nura Idriss, a student in Thompson’s English 10 class, described the class as a “very fun and joking environment.” “Chris’s sarcasm and the way he teaches is very engaging and very personable. He doesn’t just talk about the book but connects things to his own life and tells stories from his own experiences,” they said. “This takes away the stress of tests or quizzes and makes things more fun.”
“He is not as strict as other teachers and his nice and funny attitude will be missed,” sophomore Nico Abbate, who is also in Thompson’s English 10 class, said.
Idriss said they appreciate his teaching style but also the connections he makes with his students. “What makes me feel I have a good connection with him is I can tell he cares about the development of his students and he doesn’t emphasize the importance of grades, it’s just about the learning,” they said.
Dunbar said that GDS will “miss his sense of institutional memory and how the school has changed, but mostly the special Chris energy he brought to teaching.”
“With Chris, I felt like he was my friend and teacher, and this made me comfortable and feel like I could have a great conversation with him,” junior Atticus Coyne, who took English 10 with Thompson last year, said.
Coyne said that he particularly appreciated the personal report card comments that Thompson wrote. “He mentioned personal things like a Liverpool shirt I had worn every day and commented on the team’s slogan,” Coyne said.
“His life story is what makes him unique because he has seen a lot of different perspectives due to having all of these experiences,” junior Audrey Leff, also a former student of Thompson, said.
“He cares so deeply about literature and cares so deeply for students, and that’s the magic combination,” Dunbar said. “He also is so lively about the outside world and has lots of outside interests he brings into the classroom and to the English office which is just beautiful to see.”
Thompson said he plans to travel the world with his wife and to spend more time with his two grandchildren. Additionally, he plans to work for AmeriCorps, a program that engages people 55 and older in volunteer opportunities. “Things like visiting homebound elderly people with meals,” he said.
Thompson told the Bit he also plans to reconnect with friends of his in the rock and roll scene in DC and maybe even start playing again. He is a drummer who has been a part of numerous bands who performed in bars across the DC area in the past.
“I am going to stay available as a sub here just to get a dose of the very good medicine of teaching here,” he said.