This article is the first in a series which focuses on teachers who share similar names.
Our faculty has several pairs of teachers with name homophones. One example is Mrs. Shaul, of the English department, and Mr. Schall, of the math department. When Mr. Schall joined the LJCDS community, he was introduced at an assembly by the head of the Upper School at the time. She said, “I want to introduce you all to Mr. Schall, and everybody, this is not Mrs. Shaul’s Mr. Schall.” Mr. Schall and Mrs. Shaul have found that comment funny ever since.
This name similarity can sometimes be an issue with emails, on Back to School Night, or with freshmen who don’t yet know the names of the teachers in the Upper School. Mr. Schall and Mrs. Shaul are used to receiving the other’s calculus assignments or late essays, but feel bad for the rushing student. Since their first initials are both ‘D,’ email errors become even more frequent and confusing for students and parents alike.
This homonymic reality has prompted many entertaining incidents.“When I first got here,” said Mr. Schall, “[Mrs. Shaul] was pregnant with… her youngest child, Daniel, and people were congratulating me for the happy circumstance.” He would then have to explain that he had nothing to do with that, of course. And every once in a while, a student will walk by and say, “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Schall”—that’s always a little bit odd, says this teaching duo. Mrs. Shaul also reminded me that at one point there was a Dave Schall and a Dave Jenkins in the math department, and also a Dave Henshall. Three ‘Dave’s and three ‘Schall/Shaul/Shall’s made for quite a faculty list.
Mr. Schall and Mrs. Shaul make jokes about it, too. Whenever Mr. Schall sees Mrs. Shaul, he says “Hello, Mrs. Shaul,” and she responds with “Hello, Mr. Schall.” It’s their inside joke. Mr. Schall likes that they share names, because “anytime your load can be lightened with a little bit of humor, it makes it better,” but is also a bit jealous because Mrs. Shaul’s lack of a silent ‘C’ means she’s never been called “Mrs. Skull.”
They both were asked the ways they’re similar and the ways they’re different. Here are their responses. Mr. Schall notes that his English department counterpart is a humanities teacher, so she has to grade papers, which is something that I carefully avoid at all times. Being a math teacher is wonderful, I don’t have to grade papers, and unlike [science teachers], I don’t have to set up labs, I don’t have to do any of that stuff.” Mrs. Shaul adds, “We both really, really love teaching. We both want our students to be comfortable in the spaces we create for them to learn and push themselves. We want our students to succeed. I’m sharing my name with an amazing guy and an incredible teacher, but make sure that you know who your email’s going to.”
