For this Pagosa Springs math teacher, mountain biking and ultimate frisbee hold lessons, too.

How do teachers captivate their students? Here, in a feature we call How I Teach, we ask great educators how they approach their jobs. You can see other pieces in this series here.

A couple years ago, Andy Guinn was about to take his Pagosa Springs Middle School students on a mountain bike ride in Utah when a hiker offered an unsolicited opinion: The kids should be in school not at a state park. The government was going to hear about it, the hiker warned.

The criticism made Guinn, who teaches mountain biking and ultimate frisbee electives in addition to eighth-grade math, second-guess himself. Were the outings a waste of time and money?

Shortly thereafter, he got his answer. The parents of a student contacted him to say what a difference the mountain biking class had made for their son. He’d gone from a kid who hated school to one who’d finally found his niche.

Guinn talked to Chalkbeat about the parent feedback that reaffirmed his belief in outdoor trips, his meatball math lesson and how he brings life to his windowless classroom.

Guinn is one of 20 educators selected for the state’s new Commissioner’s Teacher Cabinet. The group provides input to officials at the Colorado Department of Education on the impact of education policies in the classroom.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited.

Why did you become a teacher?
I grew up swearing I would never be a teacher because so many members of my family were teachers. I remained stubborn until grad school when I realized that I really enjoyed being a teaching assistant and working with students. Three years later, I was in a teaching program getting my license.

What does your classroom look like?
My room is the ugliest classroom I have ever been in. It has cinder block walls, no windows, and orange carpet. I almost didn’t take the job because it was so awful. Luckily, everything else about our school is phenomenal. I have pictures all over my windowless walls from our Adventure Learning trips to Moab and Los Alamos as well as day trips to our local ski area and hikes in the mountains that surround us. They remind me how important it is to allow students opportunities to explore, spend time outside and learn beyond our academic standards. They also remind me how lucky I am to live and work in such a beautiful place.

Fill in the blank. I couldn’t teach without my __________. Why?
Dogs. They make me smile after a bad day. They keep me active and healthy during busy times of the year. They remind me that it takes a lot of training to make a habit. But most of all, they remind me to be patient with my students.

What is one of your favorite lessons to teach? How did you come up with the idea?
I steal a lot of stuff from Dan Meyer (http://blog.mrmeyer.com/). His Three Acts are fantastic and go over really well with students. One of my favorites that I adapted was his meatball lesson to teach students about the volumes of spheres and cylinders.

Originally I just used his videos, but I wanted to add in a classroom demonstration. I didn’t think I could logistically pull off a pot of meatballs for each class so I had to come up with something else. I decided on a cylindrical glass filled almost to the top with water. I tell the students we’re going to see how many marbles can fit into it without it spilling over. I raise the stakes by telling them we’ll be dropping the marbles in with their phones stacked around the base of the glass. They tend to get really engaged at that point.

How do you respond when a student doesn’t understand your lesson?
This is one of my favorite parts of teaching because I will never be done figuring out new ways to explain things, new ways for students to experience the material and new ways for students to show me what they’ve learned. I’ve found that having other students share their strategies can show both me and the confused student a new perspective on a problem. It’s also a great way to get a glimpse into the mind of someone who is just learning a concept, which is a perspective I no longer have.

How do you get your class’s attention if students are talking or off task?
We count to three in different languages. They repeat each number after me. Through the years, students have asked to teach the class some new languages so I have about six or seven I use now. Our school has also embraced physical activity breaks in the classroom as a strategy to keep engagement and focus at a high level throughout a class. I love these and can really feel a difference in the energy in my classroom when we use these.

How do you get to know your students and build relationships with them? What questions do you ask or what actions do you take?
I start the year building relationships with students for a week while we work on problem-solving skills. We also take our whole 8th grade class to Moab, Utah, for a four-day camping trip where I get a lot of opportunities to get to know students outside of the classroom. When they see me roll out of my tent with some crazy bed hair, a lot of them let their guard down and are willing to work even harder for me in the classroom when we get back.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.
In Moab a couple years ago, my mountain biking elective class was going for a ride at Dead Horse State Park. A visitor to the park approached a couple of my students and asked them why they weren’t in school. They replied that they actually were and that they were about to have their class along one of the trails in the park. The visitor wasn’t happy at all and told my students he was going to to write to the government to complain. I felt bad for my students and I started to question if the class was really a good use of time and resources.

The week after we got back from the trip, a parent contacted me to tell me what a positive difference the mountain biking class was making for their student. They told me that their son had never wanted to go to school until this year, had never put in much effort into his classes and had always felt like his teachers disliked him. But with the mountain biking class, their student found motivation to come to school, a place where he could excel, a chance to feel comfortable around his classmates and me, and a chance to get some of his energy out in a positive way. It was the perfect timing as it reconfirmed for me the importance of providing students with these types of opportunities in school as ways to build relationships with students and improve their academic performance at the same time.

What are you reading for enjoyment?
I just started “The Book of Joy” by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Douglas Adams. I got to see them speak together on a panel when I was in college and I still vividly remember how giddy and happy they were up on stage so I’m excited for the book.

What’s the best advice you ever received?
“Mr. Guinn, why do you have those games in your classroom if you’re never going to let us play them?” — one of my former students, talking about the board games, cards and dice I keep on a shelf in the corner. It reminds me that sometimes what we all need is just a day to have some fun.