Mr. J. is Having a Good Day

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Yearbook, Newspaper, Film & TV, live daily broadcasts, keep Greenway entertained and in the know, but who is behind all of these things? We  like to watch GBC and read the news, but no one ever takes the time to recognize Mr. Johnson as the man behind the scenes of all these activities!

Mr. Johnson has done so much for this school and for all of his students.

“All of my classes are about encouraging students to be creative by telling stories using pictures, videos and words. I try to empower students by giving them freedom and responsibility to produce a quality product,” Mr. Johnson said.

“Whether it’s a corny commercial or a thought-provoking editorial, I enjoy trying to get the best work out of my students. A good day is when I get to laugh with my students and colleagues.”

Mr. Johnson clearly succeeds with so many people loving him because he stays motivated while keeping his students and colleagues motivated as well.

“I get to school around 6:30am and write the GBC script. I try to pair the right videos with a fun dialogue that will both inform and entertain students and teachers alike. I routinely crack myself up because of the often dumb inside jokes that are used on GBC. At noon, I go to the office to pick up my lunch that my beautiful wife has warmed up for me,” Mr. Johnson said.

“She’s the school’s admin assistant in the front office. I then walk my lunch down to the teachers’ lunchroom where I eat with a group of about eight teacher friends who I love to hang out with. My best friends have always been staff members here at Greenway. There is a brick in the quad that says, “Greenway is home,” and it truly is. I love taking pride in our school.  The extracurricular activities from sports to performances help make teaching feel more than just a job. It’s a good life!”

It is abundantly clear that Mr. Johnson truly does love his job and everything he does for Greenway.

He has been working at Greenway for 31 years

“I’ve also been the yearbook advisor for 31 years. That’s 31 yearbooks that I have overseen. Back in the day it was much more difficult to put a yearbook together because we had to develop all of our own film, measure images and put tags on every item on every page. I can remember taking huge stacks of pages to the Fed Ex store ten times a year to be shipped to the yearbook plant. Now everything is digital, and it’s much more manageable.”

He got into teaching when he was writing a story about education for Scottsdale Magazine. He wanted to include in the story an experience of being a substitute teacher for a day.

“My first day subbing was here at Greenway, and there was something about the school environment that I loved. I found myself wanting to work with teenagers, and within a year, I was offered a teaching position at Greenway.” He said that he never before had considered being a teacher.

Mr. Johnson has been affiliated with around twenty-five roles for Greenway. We should recognize Mr. Johnson more often after everything he has done for us and the school.