Written by Arturo Gonzalez
Mr. Moses is a beloved member of the staff at MAST@FIU. From his humble beginnings as a sub, Mr. Moses has grown in fame in our school to winning in the 2019-2020 "Best Substitute Teacher" yearbook superlative. This year, Mr. Moses became a permanent part of the teaching staff at MAST@FIU.
Mr. Moses has been a substitute here at MAST@FIU for many years, and while many may recognize the man, not a lot of people are familiar with his story.
When asked about his background and how he became a substitute teacher, he responded:
"I was a teacher, to begin with, I just had some vision problems. So I wasn't able to teach because I couldn't take a heavy workload.” Seeing that his visual health was becoming an issue, Mr. Moses decided to step-down as a teacher and focus on being a substitute instead. Looking back at it, Moses stated, "Actually, it worked out pretty well. I got to be part of MAST@FIU, got to work with the staff and the kids and overall a lot of great people."
When I mentioned Math, Mr. Moses tells us about the origin of his desire to teach the subject. "I used to teach business and economics in a K-8 school, but I soon realized that the kids were too small to appreciate and understand the subject. That's when I decided to become a math teacher."
Speaking about the differences between teaching full-time and being a substitute teacher, Mr. Moses commented that "being a sub is less stressful, it's more of a security job, although I've had my handful of struggles during some covers. I've never had struggles substituting in this school... this school has a lot of structure and great kids. It's a paradise in its way... Now, as a teacher, I have to create lesson plans, I get to make quizzes and grade papers." He hopes to expand his teaching into other subjects, such as Algebra II and Geometry, sponsoring clubs. "I want to be highly involved in the Math club," he remarked, "and I also want to be highly involved in the Chess club here as I was a coach in my old school; I won first place in a North Miami competition."
Mr. Moses Hard at work in his classroom.
He mentioned his struggles to become a math teacher here at MAST@FIU, "I really worked hard to get here; it wasn't something that just came into my mind one day. The administrators knew I was working hard to become a math teacher. I have many, many years of studying math subjects. Although it wasn't expected, it was still very rewarding, and I'm still very grateful. I hope to keep showing my care for the subject."
All this hard work has not gone unnoticed. When asked about his thoughts on Mr. Moses becoming a teacher, Vladimir Artamonov, a junior at MAST@FIU, remarked, "I am definitely happy for Mr. Moses. When I was in middle school, Mr. Moses was my substitute teacher. He's been a substitute teacher for a while and his becoming a teacher is good. I feel like he's been putting in the work to be called a teacher".
To end this on a warm note, I asked several students at MAST@FIU about their thoughts on Mr. Moses becoming a teacher. Here are just the responses received:
What are your thoughts on Mr. Moses becoming a mast teacher?
"Congratulations to him! Never thought of him as a math teacher, but I'm sure his classes will be entertaining." - Ethan Avinami, MAST@FIU Alumni.
"I think it has been a long time coming. Well deserved, in my opinion. He's been one of the greatest substitutes and most reliable. Teachers know he gets the job done, and I believe he's serving his new position very well!" - Jason Rodriguez, Senior.
"He's been a substitute teacher for a long time. I think it's a good important opportunity because I know he loves students it gives him an opportunity that he really loves" - Alexia Otero, Senior.
"I believe Mr. Moses deserved to be a teacher as he has been a substitute for our school for multiple years and is very well known and educated. It's impossible not to know Mr. Moses, and every time I see Mr. Moses as my substitute or future teacher, it will make me happy" - Andrew Laskin, Junior.
"I didn't know that, but that's exciting to hear. I believe Mr. Moses will serve to be a great teacher at Mast" - Asir Talukder, Junior.
"I'm glad that he's officially part of the MAST@FIU community, and we welcome him with open arms" - Anna Abgaryan, Senior.
"I would say that he's a good addition to the MAST@FIU teacher team and that it's crazy seeing your middle school substitute finally becoming a real teacher" - Alex Coposov, Sophomore.
Mr. Moses still has a lot of goals in his mind that he would like to achieve. Mr. Moses explained, "You take a look around, and you realize all the scholars that we have in this school. You meet a lot of kids that you can't meet in other places that really do great pieces of work. I'm blessed to be able to get some of their work and be very proud and say, [wow, look at this work, it's amazing]; really, I'm blessed. I'm proud to be a teacher and MAST@FIU."