Toby Gibbons

There are many excellent educators at South Kingstown High School. The best of those establish relationships with students both in and out of the classroom. They are sought out by the athletes and the thespians, by the disenfranchised and the kids involved in countless activities. Toby Gibbons is one such teacher. This is Toby’s fourth year at South Kingstown High School. Before landing in SK, he taught both in public and private settings. His multiple experiences have shaped his classroom persona and his decision to make SKHS a part of his life once the school day ends. I am especially impressed with Toby’s presence in the classroom and his ability to sense when to push students and when to provide them support. His willingness to enthusiastically teach the content and skills, but still hold enough distance for his students to consider him a teacher and not a comrade is impressive. Math is one of those subjects where some of us – not just kids – make up their mind that they can or can’t do it before they even try. Toby is not afraid to put the curriculum on hold to make sure that everyone understands a previously taught concept moving forward. I was observing one of his classes last year when he essentially stopped the lesson he was facilitating to review a piece of a test where many students had struggled a few days earlier; you could see the relief on the kids’ faces. Toby has coached soccer and softball at the middle school, and is the head coach of the varsity hockey team at the high school (play-offs begin tonight vs. St. Rays!). A hallmark of Toby’s teams is that they get better as the year goes on. As in his classroom, he understands that “getting it” may take a while but the benefits will be there in the end if he is patient and provides clear, consistent expectations. Toby regularly attends other SKHS events with his kids in tow. He clearly enjoys seeing kids excel in his classroom and on other stages. Toby is one of our ninth grade house teachers this year. I can’t think of a better teacher for freshmen to have: he is a teacher of students as much as he is a teacher of math.