This year, WHS has gained 11 teachers as part of the Blue Jay family. Five of them were listed in our October issue and here are the other six.

Questions

1. How long have you been teaching?
2. Why do you enjoy teaching?
3. What made you want to be a teacher?
4. What do you want your kids to take out of your class?

Suzanne Pelley

1. NA
2. I enjoy interacting with students as well as teaching science. For me, it is such a fun subject and students bring in various background knowledge that can still be advanced. I love seeing light bulbs go off when a concept suddenly becomes clear for students.
3. Initially I did not believe I would teach, to be honest. I have always enjoyed communicating with kids (non-adults) yet thought I’d try my hand researching within a biological field of study. Having gained laboratory experience, it was unfulfilling. I was working alone in a lab day in and day out and realized that I was better suited for communicating knowledge to students, rather than discovering knowledge.
4. My ultimate goal is for students to be independent learners, for them to learn how to rely on themselves, rather than a teacher, to learn. While I think my subject is extremely important, I understand that the majority of my students will not choose a career in a biological field. However, I do want to teach them skills that enable them to accomplish whatever their heart desires. Learn science in a way that enables students to take away skills, rather than memorized facts, because ultimately, life is about applying what you learn to new situations.

Tim Zumsteg

1. First year
2. I enjoy teaching because I like helping others and I love mathematics. I had teachers when I was growing up that made such a positive impact on my life that it influenced me to become a teacher myself.
3. Past teachers have played a bi part in my life and have really opened my eyes in becoming an educator. I wish to be one of those people who leave a positive impact on students’ lives.
4. If my kids could take one thing from my class, I would want them to become lifelong learners. If they leave my class at the end of the year with a better understanding of math and how to learn, that would be great.

Joe Callahan

1. I have been teaching for a little over 1 year.
2. I enjoy teaching because I like to help people.  I really do enjoy talking about and reading about new discoveries and thinking about how the world works.  It is also fun to share my interests in the classroom.  I figure if I can show students the beauty of science and why I get so excited about it maybe they will too.  Helping someone achieve more than they thought they were able to is a really awesome thing to do.  I don’t always do that but when I do all the other times are worth it.
3. A series of great teachers and having my own children.  
4. I want students that take my class to learn to question many of the things they would have taken for granted.  I want students to leave my science class asking more questions and learning to love the investigation more than the answer.  I hope when students leave my class they have improved their ability to more effectively reason and solve problems.  

Jamie Haffner

1. This is my second year of teaching full time, but I have been teaching drumline and private lessons for five years.
2. Teaching is a combination of many of the things that are important to me! I love music – playing music, listening to music, talking about music, thinking about music, analyzing music – all of it! I am passionate about the subject, so it is just natural to want to share that with others. I really believe that life is about people and helping them. As a teacher I am in a unique situation to help students better themselves and learn practical skills to be successful in life. I also love being outside, really diving into the details, planning, and organizing. Being a band director is a combination of all of those things.
3. As unfortunate as this is, I had some less-than-great teachers while in school. On the surface level it was not beneficial, but the absence of quality instruction really made me research and discover information on my own. Through that process of struggling to understand information, I gained a depth of understanding that I couldn’t have gotten otherwise. That situation simultaneously made me a better teacher and helped me realize that I wanted to offer a better educational experience for others.
4. Of course I want my students to gain an incredible amount of knowledge about music, rhythm, and percussion, but for most students there will be a day when they don’t play music every day. I hope their appreciation and love of music is lifelong, but I also want them to gain practical skills that will affect the rest of their lives: effective communication skills, ability to hold themselves accountable, time management, planning and long-range thinking, and an appreciation for all people regardless of skill level, physical characteristics, or what-have-you. If my students learn those things, they are set up to be successful regardless of what career or path they take. That is what is most important to me

Brian Edler

1. This is my seventh year teaching.
2. I enjoy teaching because I get to experience a topic I love everyday and share it with as many students as possible.
3. Education has always been in my blood. My parents are both retired educators, and instilled a passion and love of learning to my sister and me. It was seeing them reap the benefits of working with students that made me want to share that same love of learning.
4. The power of yet! I mean that if something is hard don’t quit and say “I don’t get it”, but change the mindset to “I don’t get it yet.”

Derick Heflin

1. Nine years
2. Creating positive relationships with students that will help them to be successful in the future.
3. There are a lot of teachers in my family. I also was very interested in being a coach.
4. I want to be able to make them better students and people so they can be successful after they leave high school.