February teacher of the month: Mr. Torfin

Mr. Torfin has received the honor of being our February Teacher of the Month at Palisade High School.

We had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Torfin this week about his teaching life and his years as a Palisade Bulldog. Mr. Torfin was asked how long he has been teaching at Palisade High School and how long he has been teaching in general. He responded with, “I’ve been teaching at Palisade for eleven years now. In total I've been teaching for sixteen years. Five years at The Garf, I was a Garfield Gator, and then here at Palisade.” For all of these years of teaching experience, Mr. Torfin has grown into the amazing and well experienced teacher that we know and love today. Even experienced teachers still face their daily struggles and obstacles of being a high school teacher. Mr. Torfin tells us that his daily struggle is, “Bringing excitement to my topics. I shouldn’t say ‘bringing excitement’ because I bring that I think, but maintaining that excitement is a challenge daily.” Though daily challenges can be quite exhausting, every teacher has moments of joy that makes the whole teaching experience worth it. Mr. Torfin’s favorite thing about teaching is that, “No day is the same. Like authentically, no day is the same. Even though I might be teaching the same content that I taught a year ago, however, the reactions that I have with kids, relationships that I build with kids, the jokes that we make, it’s different every single day.” Mr. Torfin was asked what he enjoys doing outside of teaching. He says, “It’s got to be outside. It doesn’t matter whether I'm watching a baseball game, umpiring a baseball game, riding my mountain bike, or sitting around the campfire, it's got to be outside.” 

Congratulations to Mr. Torfin for receiving the honor of being Teacher of the Month!