“The reason I teach is for my students, not for the money or the holidays. It is for my students and to make them better people,” Mr. McCane  replies when asked what he wants his students to know about him as a teacher.

Mr. McCane is Sahuaro’s new AP Government teacher. He’s brand new to Tucson, only having moved here a year ago from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated from Ohio University and, “Ate a lot of deer meat.”

Mr. McCane spent six months in Honduras teaching a class of fifth graders, an experience he describes as being, “Very challenging, but very rewarding. It got me out of my comfort zone and showed me things I would have never been able to see without having that experience.” The craziest teaching experience he ever had while teaching in Central America was when he told his fifth grade class, “We are going to skip math for the day and go outside and play soccer. What then proceeded was fifteen minutes of them pounding their desks cheering, ‘Mr. Alex! Mr. Alex!” It was a pretty funny moment.”

Mr. McCane admitted to being nervous his first day teaching at Sahuaro because it’s a lot different than speaking to eleven and twelve year olds, but he already loves our school, “The kids are more respectful, they have mutual respect for their teachers. I love my colleagues, they’re awesome. I definitely see myself here at Sahuaro for a long time.” He reveals that he loves teaching high school because of the relationships he can build among his students. When you walk into Mr. McCane’s room, you see a poster which reads, “The Big 3: Respect yourself and others, no complaining, and no excuses.” He stands strongly by the belief that respect will get you far in life, and wants that value to be one that his students take when they walk away from his class.

Our Sahuaro Cougars have done an awesome job at making Mr. McCane feel welcomed and appreciated at our wonderful High School.