English teacher Steven Klass claims that there isn’t a single pun about his last name that someone hasn’t already told him.
“I’ve been in classes since 1972 and I don’t think that there’s any joke that can be made about my name that I haven’t heard before,” Klass said.
Klass even said that one time a friend suggested he name his three daughters First, Second, and Third Klass because he “thought that would be a stitch.”
Even Klass’s hobbies tie into puns on his last name. With an art studio in his home, Klass carves and paints various animals, then fashions them into pins, plaques, magnets, clocks and other trinkets that people request. Klass calls these animals Klassical Kreatures and has been making and selling them since 1986.
“I’d always been a doodler, and I was looking for something to do with the spare time,” Klass said.
Among other activities, Klass enjoys hunting white-tailed deer and fishing and describes himself as a “big Nats fan.”
During his time at the University of Maryland, Klass changed his major from Psychology to History before settling on English.
“I realized that my real delight was in stories and storytelling,” Klass said.
From a young age, Klass was surrounded by books; although he says he appreciates all genres, he has a particular affinity for one.
“If I had to get on a boat that’s floating out towards an island, I would really like to take a pile of science fiction with me,” Klass said, adding that his most recent pleasure reads were Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore.
Klass teaches two sections of English 12 and one of English 9 Honors, which tends to be particularly eventful—in part due to the students and in part due to Klass himself. From his vibrant clothing to his captivating stories, Klass knows to make English interesting, according to freshman Emma Choi.
“Not only does he teach, but he entertains us, too,” Choi said. “We love his outfits—that’s one highlight, looking at him, because he has really colorful outfits.”
Klass has a few stories of his own and strongly believes that learning and fun go hand in hand.
“I tend to think that although school needs to be demanding and that there needs to be clear-cut standards on a regular basis, one also needs to recognize that there can be a certain amount of fun and joy in what you’re doing,” Klass said. “We do a lot of laughing.”
On one occasion, his students bet him that he couldn’t make up a rhyme that incorporated “all of the crew,” as he fondly referred to his freshman class.
The result was a multi-page rhyme that Klass brought into a real recording studio with a previous student of his who had become an audio engineer.
“I gave a copy to everyone so they’d have it,” Klass said.
Of course, as they often do, his class decided to take all the credit.
“Afterward they told me that I needed to thank them for the whole circumstance and I said ‘Why do I need to thank you?’…and someone in the class said ‘because I knew that must’ve been on your bucket list, Mr. Klass,’” he said, adding that he’d “never been in a studio before.”
Klass’s favorite part of teaching is the idea that everyone is involved in learning; he explained how his former student was a professor of audio engineering and gave the production of his mixtape to an intern, who then taught Klass the basics of working in a recording studio.
“That sort of feeds back into this idea of learning new stuff all the time…it was a whole learning process for everybody,” Klass said.
Klass’s teaching career at Marshall has lasted more than 11 years, and he still enjoys his teaching and learning.
“It’s cliche, but there’s never really a dull moment,” Klass said.