Site Map | Archives

Home › Living › School City

After 30 years at Washington Middle School, Albuquerque teacher says he's there to learn from the kids

By Christopher Sanchez
Thursday, August 9, 2007

Robert Sanchez, a social studies teacher at Washington Middle School, pins a poster to his classroom wall alongside his collection of portraits of George Washington. Sanchez soon begins his 30th year at Washington, where he also went to school. "The years have gone by real fast," he said. "My oldest students are in their 40s. I have former students that are teachers, and I've taught children of former students."

Photo by Erin FredrichsTribune

Tribune

Robert Sanchez, a social studies teacher at Washington Middle School, pins a poster to his classroom wall alongside his collection of portraits of George Washington. Sanchez soon begins his 30th year at Washington, where he also went to school. "The years have gone by real fast," he said. "My oldest students are in their 40s. I have former students that are teachers, and I've taught children of former students."

Robert Sanchez is a little more than familiar with Washington Middle School.

A student at the school near Downtown in the mid-1960s, Sanchez decided to go back and teach there after graduating from college.

Next week, he'll begin his 30th year at Washington, and he doesn't plan on leaving anytime soon.

"When it's no longer fun, it'll be time to leave," he said. "I tell my wife I'm not going to work, I'm going to school, because I learn from all the students."

Sanchez's 30-year tenure at one school sets him apart among Albuquerque Public Schools teachers — and it sets him apart with parents and students, too.

He has students who tell him he taught their mother or father years ago. He runs into former students everywhere he goes.

"You go to an Isotopes game, you see students there," he said. "You go to Downtown, to Civic Plaza, you see students there."

Sanchez, 53, wanted to be a politician when he was younger, but he changed his mind in high school when he started tutoring kids.

That's when he knew he wanted to be a teacher. But he never gave up his love for politics. He graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in political science, and he teaches social studies now.

Sanchez said he continues to teach because he enjoys seeing the light bulb go on in a student's head.

"I just really like this place," he said. "The gratifying part is when they understand a concept and can explain it to others."

He said his job hasn't changed much over the years. Kids might be into different things, but relating to them is the same.

Sanchez is always trying to learn something new, Washington Principal Cynthia Challberg-Hale said.

"He has been teaching for a long time, but it hasn't changed his quest for knowledge," she said. "He is really a unique individual."

She said Sanchez has been a mentor to novice teachers and is a role model to students.

"He is a bilingual teacher who knows generations of this community, has an incredible knowledge of the structure of our country, civics, social studies," she said. "He looks at it in-depth. He has a phenomenal memory."

Sanchez has also inspired his son and one of his former students to teach at Washington.

Sanchez just recently stepped down as department chairman, a position he held for eight years. As chairman, he organized the geography bee and ordered books.

Sanchez said he always looks for different ways to teach students, because every student learns differently.

"You have to love what the heck you're doing, or you have to get out," he said. "You have to have patience. Some kids don't get it the first time, the second time, the third time."