Summary-+Response+Paper

Kendra Schwein Summary and Response Paper A Career As a Teacher and a Coach I interviewed teachers and coaches including Barb Hitchens, Andrea Bradley, Cara Syers, Jon Thurmond. When I was little, I wanted to be a teacher. As I grew up, I went through a time where I did not want to be a teacher. I love math and so I thought I would make a great engineer. Eventually, as I matured more, I realized once again that I wanted to be a teacher and also a coach. I have had some pretty amazing teachers and coaches who have influenced me to want this. My absolute favorite teacher was my fifth grade teacher at All Souls Catholic School. Her name was Sister Mary Rose and she was a Sister from the nearby convent, but she was not your typical nun. She made class and school so much fun and I loved staying after school just to talk to her. She made a difference in my life by demonstrating to me that she cared about me as a person. Unfortunately, after one year she got transferred to Germany and I lost contact with her. Another one of my favorite teachers was my math teacher through sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, Barb Hitchens. Through her, I learned my love of math. Two of my favorite coaches have been Andrea Bradley and Cara Syers. Both of them have taught me a lot about life and sports. I also interviewed Jon Thurmond because he holds the position of being both a math teacher and a volleyball coach. All of these teachers and coaches have influenced me enough to make a difference in my life. Barb Hitchens was may math teacher in middle school. She always knew that she wanted to be a teacher. She had a teacher when she was younger who completely influenced her life. She loved being able to raise a family and work at the same time. She likes seeing the light bulb go on in kid’s heads when they finally understand something. Mrs. Hitchens never has time to read for enjoyment during the school year, and she absolutely hates to write. Teaching for her, has been a very rewarding experience. Bradley’s favorite thing about being a teacher is spending time with her students and being able to help develop them. She loves seeing the small successes that each individual student makes. She decided to become a teacher because she liked working with kids, she liked sports and she looked up to her teachers when she was in school. She has to read to stay up with current issues for her sports medicine class. She has to write when coming up with lesson plans and for emailing parents and students. As a child, she wanted to be an architect and then realized she wanted to do something with athletics. As a coach, the most rewarding thing for Bradley is her relationship with her athletes and seeing the successes that are made throughout the season. The most stressful part is the time commitment and the time spent away from her family. Bradley says that coaching is really hard on her family, but she is lucky because they support her. Syers is a biology teacher and the head volleyball coach. Syers says,"I think that my favorite part about being a teacher is interacting with my students." The most tedious part for her is the grading. Syers wanted to be either a science teacher or a medical doctor, but once she saw the incredible time commitment to being a doctor, she decided to go with teaching. She hit a slight brick wall in her life during her fifth year of teaching when she went into coast mode and used the same lesson plans and activities, but she got it figured out. The most rewarding thing for her as a coach is hanging out with her team and getting to know the girls. The most stressful parts are everything that goes with running a program: uniforms, schedules, tournaments, referees, and workers, along with all the drama. "I'm really lucky to have such a supportive family," Syers says. Syer’s family is very supportive of her and went to almost all the volleyball games this past season. Jon Thurmond is a math teacher and a volleyball coach. Thurmond never feels trapped behind a desk in teaching. He loves getting new students year after year and became a teacher basically because there was nothing else he really wanted to do. He does not like the grading, and he does not have to read very often. The thing he likes about coaching is watching the athletes grow at a high level of play. The hardest part of coaching for him is balancing the teaching with the coaching and also the family life. Coaching takes up a lot of time, so he has less time for other things. After interviewing all these coaches and teachers, it only makes me want to do this more. I want to teach math or physical education and coach volleyball and/or high jumping in track. I agree with Bradley in the fact that I want to do something with sports. I love sports and being around all the athletic events. I also love helping kids learn new things. I want to be able to help kids and see the light bulbs go on in there heads as they finally understand something. I have helped out at several middle school volleyball camps with Syers and I have truly enjoyed getting to work with girls in the sport I love. My favorite thing was watching some of them do their best to do what I was telling them to do. The frustrating part was watching some of them shrug it off like they knew better than me. All of the teachers I interviewed have said that they enjoy seeing the improvement. I feel like that is something I also would love to see. Later on in life, when I get married, a top quality in a husband will be to make sure that he likes sports. All the coaches said that their families are supportive and that makes it so much easier. Even though coaching cuts into family time, it is worth it. The supportive family behind you lets you know that every step of the way. I know that my parents will support me in everything that I do. Syer’s parents came to a lot of our games this season. She really enjoys having them behind her. My plan for college is to major in math and minor in education and coaching. This way if I decide not to become a teacher, I can do something with my math major. Also, a coaching minor would allow me to coach and would also help me become a physical education teacher. Overall, my interviews went really well, and i want to be a teacher more than ever. Works Cited: Interviews- Barb Hitchens, Andrea Bradley, Cara Syers, Jon Thurmond