Teaching Travels

Since meeting in their Chinese History class at Simpson, Allie Walker ’12 and Rawley Butler ’13 have been on amazing trek together. Their love for travel and culture has taken them to 17 countries — including for teaching stints in Peru and El Salvador. Today, the married teaching tandem is in Montana, serving as middle school educators.

Teaching together was not their original plan. Graduating from Simpson with degrees in history, they first focused on finding a path to feed their shared appetite for travel. Allie and Rawley saved money for a year and became certified in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Equipped with certifications and Spanish-speaking skills, they moved to Peru for English-teaching positions. Their teaching journeys took them from the bustling capital city of Lima and its 11 million people to the small town of Urubamba in the Andes Mountains. Along the way, they had an epiphany.

“When we were younger, I think a lot of our motivation to teach was so that we could travel,” said Allie. “That kind of flip-flopped into the discovery that we really enjoy teaching.”

Going Farther with More Education

Having made that discovery, Allie and Rawley recognized they were not fully prepared for careers in education. So, they came back to Simpson to pursue Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degrees through the College’s Continuing, Graduate and Online Education program.

“I think the program is structured in a way that makes it as easy as possible to go back and do it, while still being rigorous,” said Rawley. “You have a really good cohort support system of people there with you. And they just transition you so easily into the education community.”

“And the fact that we were both history majors [at Simpson] really helped us,” said Allie. “Simpson’s history program is so focused on being well spoken and analytical. And that foundation made the MAT program easy in some ways. With all the reading and work we had done, we were so prepared for it.”

Allie adds that she especially appreciated how the MAT program helped her see the primary importance of creating authentic experiences in the classroom for her students.

“My focus was on interdisciplinary learning, which opened my eyes to the fact that learning isn’t just writing on the board and taking notes. The more authentic you can make every single activity, the more impact it will have on kids — and not just on their test scores. It will help them develop into responsible adults and critical thinkers, who can reason out situations instead of just following the rules.”

Sharing a World of Adventures

Packing up lessons learned while completing their MAT programs, Allie and Rawley ventured to the American School of El Salvador for three years as middle school English and history teachers, respectively. Then came the move to Montana.

They are now completing their fifth year at Shepherd Middle School, where Allie teaches English and AP Language, and Rawley teaches history. The inseparable couple remains as close as ever with their classrooms conveniently situated just across the hall from each other.

“Our rooms have always been right next to each other,” said Rawley. “I love it because I get to see my best friend every 45 minutes. And having a very good teacher you can bounce ideas off is tremendous.”

Rawley, a California native, has many family resources from which to draw teaching wisdom. Both of his parents and grandparents were teachers, as is his twin brother, Zane Butler ’13, and Zane’s wife, Savannah Butler ’13.  Yet Rawley’s zeal for teaching goes well beyond shared DNA.

“For me, teaching is the right job because I enjoy working with the kids and seeing them learn every day,” said Rawley. “I love working here with a like-minded group of people who want to make a difference in kids lives. I think that’s a big deal.”

Allie and Rawley are loving life and teaching in Montana, so they’re content to stay there indefinitely. When school isn’t in session, their zeal for travel has them dreaming of new destinations. Allie has South Korea and Japan on her wish list; Rawley has his sights on Mongolia.   If they make it to all three places, that will be 20 countries together — truly an impressive world of experiences to bring into their classrooms.