About Mr. Jirsa

One of the themes in my classes is culture. I think that a person's culture, their ways of thinking, acting and behaving, are learned from the people around them.

I've been lucky enough to learn from many different people from many different places. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where my French teacher, who was originally from Texas, may have taught us French with a strong Southern accent, but she also taught us not to say "Eww" when we saw pig snouts for sale on our field trip to the West Side Market. Instead we said "That's Interesting," which is a trick that I still use.

After a really cold senior year I opted to move South to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. There I got mixed up with a lot of country music fans, but I also took some truly amazing courses. My favorites involved Chinese language and history. For my Junior Year I transferred for one year to Cambridge University in England. There I learned to say "brilliant" instead of "awesome" and "trousers" instead of "pants". I attended "bops" and a memorable "fancy dress party" where I learned that "fancy dress" means a costume, not a suit and tie. But I also had a lot of experiences traveling across the continent that I'll share when teaching about Europe.

For five years after college I worked as an educator at one of the greatest classrooms on the planet, U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. It's hard not to get excited about space travel when you get to learn about it by flying your own mission in a high-tech simulator. I learned there that learning is best when you're working with others to prepare for a meaningful event, like a space mission or perhaps the Model UN.

The one problem with Space Camp is that students only stay for a week. There is only so much that a teacher can accomplish. I still dabble with rocketry and robotics, but I've really enjoyed having the opportunity to teach Social Studies for Minneapolis Public Schools since 2005.

Like the places that I've lived, my classroom also has a culture. I hope that it's a place where all students feel included and hard work is rewarded.

Learn more about me and my thoughts on teaching and learning here.