Dylan McCuskey and Ari Geller Staff Writers Have you ever found a dead body? Most likely, the answer to that question is no. One of the many things you'll learn from Mrs. Spindler is what it’s like to discover a corpse. Mrs. Spindler was born in Alabama, but came to Utah to go to Utah State for college. She lives with her husband of 25 years, and she has one son named Michael. Her husband, Mike, runs Spindler Construction, which has built many places around Cache Valley, including the business building on USU’s campus and the Crumb Brothers renovations. She has thirteen animals that live with her: eight horses, three dogs, and two cats. Mrs. Spindler is well known at LHS for her crazy stories and her love for English, among other things. Because she didn’t start teaching until she was 42, Mrs. Spindler has had many different experiences than most teachers. She’s worked in restaurants and resorts, doing everything from cleaning toilets to being a manager. These experiences have helped her with her teaching, as she says that, “When I’m running around helping everybody it’s like waiting on tables.” Her multiple jobs are also one cause of her seemingly endless number of anecdotes. One such tale is the ever-popular story about coming across a dead body. She was working at a restaurant, and it was almost time for her shift to end. The man who was supposed to work after her, however, hadn’t shown up yet. She began to get worried, and eventually left the restaurant to walk to the man’s house. There, she found him…not in the best shape. Mrs. Spindler let us in on a secret of hers, which is that she uses her stories to captivate the class and keep their attention. She’ll often tell a story when she needs a class to be quiet, and has found that it works quite well to keep them focused afterward. Not only do her tales silence classes, but they also help her to connect with her students on a more personal level. Mrs. Spindler uses her experiences as a very effective teaching tool. Spindler decided to become an English teacher because it combined all of her favorite things. She loves everything about English, from reading to writing to literature. Spindler has also always enjoyed bossing people around, as when she was little, she would love to play school and be the teacher. Eventually, her mother had to sit her down and order her to stop bossing the entire neighborhood around. Mrs. Spindler also describes herself as an “ambivert,” meaning she is both introverted and extroverted. She is shy enough that she needs a reason to be around people, but she also needs to be around people sometimes to keep her sane. Teaching is a way for her to satisfy her extrovert half while still working. Not only does Mrs. Spindler have many great anecdotes from before her teaching days, but she also has added to collection with classroom experiences. One of her favorite classroom moments to talk about is the story of Billy and Bob. Billy and Bob were two troublemaking 7th graders that Mrs. Spindler had in the same class one year. Naturally, she decided that they mustn’t sit next to each other. When she went to make a seating chart, however, the names “Billy” and “Bob” were nowhere in sight. It turned out that they had tricked her into believing that their names were Billy and Bob as a practical joke. Mrs. Spindler has never forgotten Billy and Bob, and to this day is still laughing about them. Spindler is excited about this upcoming year and the years to come. She has a new classroom, which she loves. It’s much bigger than her old classroom, with a much better view. Also, with the new block schedule she has much more time to teach in depth and discuss important topics in Socratic Seminars. If you want to listen to fantastic stories from a fantastic teacher in a fantastic classroom, take a class from Mrs. Spindler. You might even learn some valuable English lessons along the way.
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