{"id":1319003,"date":"2020-03-21T20:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T02:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=994895"},"modified":"2020-03-22T07:48:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T13:48:30","slug":"sunday-profile-the-challenge-keeps-him-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sunday-profile-the-challenge-keeps-him-going\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Profile: The challenge keeps him going"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Coal Ridge english teacher Tim McNulty has a little fun with his fourth-period class as they read \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird\u201d at the New Castle school. McNulty has been teaching in Colorado for nearly 20 years and recently was voted the top teacher in Local\u2019s Choice. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
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If his personality doesn\u2019t light up the room, the colorful traditional kilts Tim McNulty wears everyday will.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather was born in Ireland, my father was born on the boat coming over from Ireland,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been wearing a kilt all my life, but I had never worn a Kilt 24\/7 until 25 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

It all started when he blew his knee out fishing and had to have it replaced. Following surgery, he struggled to wear pants and decided to wear one of his kilts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just took off from there, and now if I show up to school in gym shorts, it\u2019s like wildfire throughout the whole school people asking what\u2019s wrong with me,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

His wardrobe consists of two pairs of pants, one dress pair and one pair of blue jeans, and the rest are kilts.<\/p>\n

McNulty jokes that his wife says he has one too many kilts, but by his count, he only has 14.<\/p>\n

Just over halfway through his second year at Coal Ridge High School, the English and ELD (English Language Development) teacher has made a pretty big impact in the Garfield School District Re-2 \u2014 big enough that he was named a finalist in the 2020 Locals\u2019 Choice awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea I was a finalist, I came into school on a Monday and the assistant principal walked in and said congratulations you\u2019re a finalist,\u201d McNulty said. \u201cI said for what, I thought maybe there was a contest going on in school I could maybe win a candy bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNulty was then told he was a finalist for the best teacher and that\u2019s when the shock set in. He called his wife to see if she had anything to do with it and she didn\u2019t know either.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing with Tim, he is a community teacher. He is at all the events that our kids have, he is very supportive and has built tremendous relationships with students at our school,\u201d Coal Ridge Assistant Principal Michael Mikalakis said.<\/p>\n

Being voted the best teacher is an amazing and humbling experience for Mr. McNulty, especially as he nears the end of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my second to last year teaching, I\u2019m going to finish out this school year and I have one more year then I figure that\u2019s going to be it,\u201d McNulty said. \u201cYou\u2019re at the end of your career, you\u2019re getting ready to retire, and somebody says you\u2019re the best teacher we\u2019ve ever had. That is super, just makes me feel extremely fabulous. I\u2019ll go out and have a cigar.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Proud of his Scotch-Irish heritage Mr. McNulty is known for wearing kilts on a daily basis. McNulty said he only owns two pairs of pants, one dress pair and one pair of blue jeans. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
SunProfileMcNulty-gpi-032220-2<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born and raised in Chicago, teaching wasn\u2019t the first career for the 69-year-old New Castle resident \u2014 after graduating college he spent 25 years in the insurance industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said this really stinks, I\u2019m killing myself, I want to do something else so I went back to school to earn a teaching certificate,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

He continued his education and received his master\u2019s degree. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just love to read, I love to write, It\u2019s like second nature,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

For McNulty, there wasn\u2019t one big moment that made him want to become a teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long process, there was about 5 years after I left the insurance industry before he went into teaching. \u201cDuring that period of time I asked myself what I would really like to do, when I grow up,\u201d McNulty said as he laughed as he commented he hasn\u2019t reached that point yet.<\/p>\n

McNulty decided high school was the right fit, after teaching middle school for a year.<\/p>\n

With their children grown and feeling the overcrowding in Chicago, McNulty and his wife Mary Lou decided to head west for the open spaces of Colorado.<\/p>\n

Mary Lou loves to ski and he loves to fly-fish, which led them to look near Glenwood Springs, not far from Snowmass, Mary Lou\u2019s skiing spot.<\/p>\n

They found a home in New Castle and Mr. McNulty landed a job teaching English at Basalt High School, where he taught for 16 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Chicago to go 5 miles it would take me close to an hour on the expressway. Here when I was teaching in Basalt, which is 36 miles from my home in New Castle, it took me just over 45 minutes,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

FOR THE LOVE OF READING<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his nearly 22 years as a teacher McNulty still has the drive to share his passion and find the challenge of getting students to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost students don\u2019t like to read, it is a challenge each and every day. How do I make it interesting to them, how do I bring it to life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Over two decades of teaching, McNulty has honed his teaching to break things down as he reads with his students. \u201cI like interacting, I form relationships with people. Probably the most important thing you can do besides teaching, is forming relationships with people,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

He has found the better relationship he has with students, the better chance he has of getting them to apply themselves in class.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a genuine man, very intelligent, and I\u2019m glad we were able to find him a home here toward the end of his career,\u201d Mikalakis said. \u201cThis is a good spot for him and he has done really great things, he has definitely made an impact on our kids and our teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNulty calls himself unashamedly old school \u2014 he still hand writes all his grades, and isn\u2019t much for computers to help him with his planning and grading.<\/p>\n

As he nears retirement McNulty says teaching keeps him young, keeps him thinking and keeps his mind working.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking during lunch, what I\u2019m going to do in the seventh period. Even though I have it planned out, I\u2019m still thinking how I can make it better,\u201d McNulty said. \u201cThat\u2019s what keep me going,\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge of motivating his students brings him back everyday,<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the challenge that keeps me thinking about what I\u2019m supposed to be doing, what they are supposed to be learning, and how I go about making sure they understand and learn something. I sit down after each class and each day and ask myself what did I do well and what could I have done better,\u201d McNulty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do that reflection process everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mr. McNulty goes over instructions as students prepare an outline while they read \u201cTo Kill A Mockingbird\u201d during class at Coal Ridge High School in New Castle. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent)<\/strong>
SunProfileMcNulty-gpi-032220-3<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

PLANS FOR RETIREMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

The self-professed book lover also enjoys fly-fishing, and traveling, which he plans to do when he retires after next year.<\/p>\n

When he is not working or lesson planning, he spends most of his time on the Frying Pan river fishing, and when the fish aren\u2019t biting he will sit on the river bank and read a good book to pass the time.<\/p>\n

He and his wife plan to travel a lot more as well. They are eyeing a cruise from Seattle to Alaska, and then drive back to Colorado, enjoying the Alaskan wilderness along the way.<\/p>\n

Another trip to Ireland is in the works. McNulty said they spent two weeks there the last trip and still didn\u2019t see everything they wanted to.<\/p>\n

As his teaching days come to close he can imagine when he teaches he does retire he will probably find himself jumping into his car to make the trip to school on the first day of school.<\/p>\n

kmills@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

And as far as winning the top teacher for Locals Choice, \u201cThis is a great accomplishment, I think every teacher should have a moment like this,\u201d McNulty said,<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coal Ridge english teacher Tim McNulty has a little fun with his fourth-period class as they read \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird\u201d at the New Castle school. McNulty has been teaching in Colorado for nearly 20 years and recently was voted the top teacher in Local\u2019s Choice. (Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent) If his personality doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-03 19:45:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319007,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319003\/revisions\/1319007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}