Littel Brings Authenticity, Curiosity, and Kindness to the Classroom

By Anna Riley

4/2/25

COLONIE- In his young adult years, Mr. Littel traveled to Lake George to attend the wedding of a banker friend of his. The venue was lavish, and the people were dressed in a way that screamed money; they were beautiful. Littel sat lonesome however, feeling the awkwardness in each conversation he tried to hold. 

He felt like he was speaking another language, a language that wasn’t his own. None of the girls would talk to him, and he knew “There was no amount of alcohol that would make me feel at ease, I felt so awkward. I didn’t expect it at this moment. I realized god, I have to get my stuff together. This was my epiphany,” Littel said.

Mr. Littel was at a place in his life where he was unsure of where he wanted his future to go. At the time, he was a coach for a rowing team in Boston, a team he described as “a bunch of old guys, a lot of them had pot bellies and they were just learning to row- they weren’t particularly good, but they were an interesting bunch.”

But one man, Larry Lopez, a detective and a journalist on the team, told him that he should consider teaching, because he could see the passion that he had for coaching. 

“Larry was a pain in the ass. He was always complaining, but he was right most of the time,” Littel joked. 

Littel went back to school at Union College, where he ended up getting a coaching job. He began to appreciate the beauty of the scenery of Upstate New York, and decided that he wanted to teach here permanently. 

“My life came together after moving from Boston to Schenectady. Within a couple of months I was in graduate school, I had a really awesome girlfriend. Life got a lot better,” he says while laughing.

Littel began his teaching career over at Calc, teaching students who he described as misfits. He had a lot of trouble with these students, and he found himself unable to connect with them because they could tell he wasn’t being honest in his teaching style.

“The principal there said a lot of things to me about being genuine, and I think at that point I wasn’t genuine. I don’t think I trusted you guys enough to accept me for who I was. His philosophy is that you can’t fool kids, and that you guys are smart enough to sniff out someone who’s full of shit. It was my first year of teaching and he told me to just relax and be myself,” Littel said, a philosophy he then carried on through his tenure at Colonie high school

Lacey King, a Colonie senior who had Mr. Littel as a sociology and criminal justice teacher, could attest to his genuine persona.

“What was most memorable about him is that he’s a really funny teacher and he actually shows you who he is, and he’s not scared to bring out his personality,” King said.

Mr. Littel described his journey in allowing himself to be genuine, and told me that a lot of it has to do with his natural curiosity about students and their lives. 

“I wonder what a kid is doing, I find that often the answers are pretty interesting. You can make a lot of assumptions about what someone is doing,” Littel said. 

At this point in the interview, Littel proved his statement about being naturally curious as he stopped to ask me some questions about myself. He asked me about my weekend, my college decisions, and the difficulties I had being president of Model UN. I was quickly reminded of how conversation with Mr. Littel flows naturally, as he deeply cares about what his students have to say, and he always has feedback. 

Littel credits a lot of his growth as a person to his students, “I think I had the potential to be a crazy person, and you’ve taught me how not to be so crazy. My addiction to crazy is under control because of my students,” He said, laughing. 

“I can’t tell you just how much my community gives to me. It’s really an unfair trade. I get a lot more out of you guys then you could ever get out of me,” he told me. 

Colonie Senior, Emily Murray, disagrees with the idea that we get less out of him as a teacher.

“He showed us a lot of videos that related back to what we were learning, which I found very helpful. I remember he showed us a movie about monkeys, and I thought it was so funny, but it was very applicable to what we were learning,” Murray said. 

Littel is pretty infamous for his crazy stories around the building, and he really allows these stories to shine in his sociology class. He noted that he didn’t realize they were crazy stories until he started telling them, but that he is glad that others can use his mistakes as an opportunity to learn. 

Littel is unafraid to try out some social experiments, such as walking barefoot through the CCHS hallways.

“Yesterday was a great excuse to just go barefoot through the entire day. It was interesting to see who noticed, and who got upset. Some people didn’t even notice,” he told me while laughing.

Kids really began to notice when he sat at his desk, because the gap underneath just revealed his bare feet. His students were mostly concerned about his feet getting stepped on, and his hygiene, but he found it most interesting to relate the definitions and ideologies in the sociology curriculum to real life interactions.

Mr. Littel has reached a time in his life where he is beginning to consider retirement, but it is not something that he can do with ease. He told me how much he loved his community, and didn’t know what he would do without the community and structure being a teacher has brought into his life.

“If you’re thinking about retirement, you have to think about the next thing you’re going to do, and you have to be busy and have structure. Because if you don’t have a reason to get up in the morning, you won’t. This isn’t a bad gig. This is kind of a fun way to spend your life,” he said. 

Mr. Littel is always someone who fills his day with fun, and he told me that he wants to make sure he still has something entertaining to do even when he is no longer a part of Colonie Central High’s community. 

Littel described wanting to write a murder mystery book set in the rowing world, something that he would possibly do after retirement. He has begun to listen to books on the drive in to work, being that he is “curious about the structure of murder mysteries and the certain patterns to them. I kind of want to become more fluent in them so I can write a shitty book and get it off my chest,” he said, with a big smile on his face. 

All of his crazy stories compile into the sum of who Mr. Littel is; a genuine, curious, creative, and kind man who credits his development as an individual and a teacher to all of his students. Luckily, his students will still be able to enjoy his spirit in the stories he tells when he decides to release his thrilling rowing murder mystery novel.