Teacher Focus - Mrs. Dochnahl

Who is Mrs. Dochnahl? Mrs. Dochnahl is a US History teacher and the AP US History teacher here at Patriot High School, and she is in her 22nd year of teaching. 

Mrs. Dochnahl knew from a young age that she loved history. She mentions one of her teachers at Jurupa Middle School helped foster her passion for the subject and understood that becoming a teacher was part of her future. However, she didn't initially think that teaching high school was her calling; she always believed her goal was to teach elementary students. It wasn't until she worked as a substitute teacher that she realized she couldn't keep up with the younger students. After serving as a drumline instructor at JVHS for a while, she realized that teaching high school was what she truly wanted. 

Being a Teacher

Here at Patriot, Mrs. Dochnahl teaches US History and AP US History (APUSH), the latter of which she began to teach in 2020. She said that being an APUSH teacher has helped her a lot, especially now that she is going back to school to get her master's degree. A lot of the skills she has taught students in APUSH have carried over into her college classes. She says that within APUSH, her favorite era to study is the foundational era of the US, because there were so many unique minds and perspectives that came together to establish the country we now have the privilege of living in today. 

Philosophy

When asked why history is so important, Mrs. Dochnahl thinks students must understand why we are at the place where we are today. So many things had to happen decades, if not centuries ago, that have now brought us to the place we are now. 

“I think that in a republic it is very important for students to understand how government works and how we got to be where we are today… and connecting things that are happening now to the events of the past.”

Aside from the history of the past, Mrs. Dochnahl believes that one of the single most important things students should learn is greater awareness of the world around them. 

Historical Artifacts

Throughout her classroom, Mrs. Dochnahl has artifacts from various eras of history, whether it be an old newspaper or a minie ball (a type of bullet used during the Civil War). She says that her favorite and most interesting artifact in her class is a Nazi gas mask from World War 2. Yes, she has a gas mask carried by a Nazi soldier during the Second World War. She says old artifacts are littered throughout the place; you just have to know where to look.