Mr. James Luchak, a dedicated teacher at North Park, is in his 33rd year of teaching. He has taught at various schools, including Thornhill Secondary School, West-Credit Secondary School, and of course, North Park Secondary School. With his astonishing critical thinking and writing skills, Mr Luchak helps students build these same skills and grow academically. Mr Luchak obtained his first degree from the University of Alberta. He has been trained as a minister, and his journey then brought him to Emmanuel College, where he obtained his Master’s of Divinity, and then Trinity College for a Master’s in Philosophy. Though he considered a PhD, he chose to use his talents in teaching instead, though he plans to pursue one after he retires.
Mr Luchak was drawn to teaching because of the unique challenges he felt it would be teaching English in high school and to come up with strategies to enable students to flourish. He saw this as an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in students’ lives, and felt as if he was offering a public service. One of his favorite novels to teach is the novel Such a Long Journey, by Rohinton Mistry. Mr Luchak has his own dreams of becoming a potential writer and creating a novel. He would write a novel with the themes of multiculturalism and psychological depth.
Mr Luchak sees the importance of creating engaging content for his students. He believes the key to being successful when teaching kids is providing them content that enables students to be engaged. He focuses a lot on syntax and sentence combine exercises, which he believes has a great impact on a student’s writing skills. He sees comprehension and vocabulary exercises as having less of an impact on a student’s development in writing, so they are a secondary tool. Mr Luchak believes that when students don’t put in the work, the work they are given will become tedious and they will struggle; self-will, dedication and discipline are essential to successful work.
Mr Luchak is aware of the changes posed by modern technology and social media. He wants to keep a focused working environment, and make sure there is a reasonable use of phones and social media, as he believes if misused can have a negative effect on the students overall academic performance.
Mr Luchak is more than just a teacher. He helps build his students’ confidence in reading and thinking skills. He said he feels these will improve students’ confidence and skills in their writing. Some students have even credited their improved performance in other subjects on Mr. Luchak’s teaching methods. They say they write better lab reports because their writing skills have improved in his class. His decades of dedication and commitment as a teacher have truly shaped the minds of countless students.
THE NORTH STAR 