California Teacher of the Year: ‘I Don’t Teach Music. I Teach Students.’

It’s luncheon play astatine Irvine’s Northwood High School, and the roar of pupil chatter is punctuated by the dependable of woodwind instruments’ fluttering scales. Music teacher Ben Case—who was precocious recognized arsenic 1 of 5 California Teachers of the Year—was overseeing immoderate students arsenic they rehearse for their Dec. 1 wintertime performance. “My doctrine is I don’t thatch music. I thatch students,” Case told ...