Lopez Island School District - Home of the Lobos

Grades 6-12Kurt Jacobs Ceramics

Kurt Jacobs taught in Montana and California for 8 years before moving to Lopez Island in 1978, where he taught another 7 years in 6th grade before moving to the secondary building. He has a degree from San Jose State University in history, which he teaches for half the day. His other classes are devoted to a variety of electives.

Jacobs believes in lifelong learning, whether it is through continuing education workshops and conferences, his personal interests like golf, ceramics, woodworking and Japanese culture, or from his own students. “In a small rural community like Lopez Island, students keep returning home so I get to talk to them 5 and 10 years after they graduated and learn what was valuable and meaningful to them. I use that information to modify my curriculum and teaching methods.” He loves to have students catch him make a mistake in his classes “because it means they were actually paying attention!” Inspired by his students, Jacobs hopes they learn the power of knowledge in his classes. “The more knowledge they have, the more choices they have,” he says.