Sean Louderback teaches the learning lab in room 54. He has been teaching for five years, but this is his first year teaching in the learning lab. Terra Linda is the third school he’s taught at. He used to teach at Anova in San Rafael and Aptos Middle in San Francisco. He finds TL to be the nicest group of kids and to have the most positive school culture. The teachers care more and almost all the students want to succeed or at least get something out of school. The campus is also quieter and has more space than others he’s taught at.

Louderback chose to teach at TL because he always wanted to work with high school students. He connects to teenagers better than middle or elementary age students. Louderback used to supervise K through 5th grades and found he did better as the kids got older. He went to Gonzaga University where he majored in history and minored in philosophy and religion. Before teaching, he worked at a law firm and planned to go to law school, but he hated his job. He went to a mentor who thought Louderback would be a teacher. He started working as a teacher’s aid and sports camp director to have the background experience and to be sure he would enjoy it.

His teaching style is mix of instruction and coaching kids. A part of his job is helping students realize they can succeed on their own. His quote for students is “80% of life is showing up,” which for him means that even if something might not work you should show up because you might do better than you think. He says, “If you give up, from my own experience, you’ll never know your true potential.”

Louderback hopes to coach soccer and baseball at TL for about five years, help kids graduate, and to know teachers’ names by the end of the year.