By Lara Jacobs
As you might know by now, we have a new PE teacher this year, Mr. Ross. Mr. Ross always knew he wanted to do something with exercising in his life. He graduated from 7hills, went to college for exercise science, and played basketball for most of his college life. After college, he worked for a rehabilitation center for the older population, which was more slow-paced for him.
And finally, he started working at 7hills as a middle school PE teacher and a basketball coach. He enjoys 7hills because of the children’s energy and enthusiasm, but here are some downsides for being young and a PE teacher. “Because of my age, I still think I can like play everything,” Mr. Ross said. But there are definitely some upsides for being a PE teacher: “PE is great like we play games all day,” he said. Working with the other PE teachers has definitely been a learning experience for Mr. Ross this year. Mr. Ross has been trying to learn how they do things as a PE teacher. That also let him have his own input as a PE teacher. “They give me room for my own input, flow and flavor.” Said Mr. Ross. He also says they give him feedback on how he is as a teacher, saying he still has a lot to learn, and is open to feedback on what he needs to work on.
Since Mr. Ross is a younger guy, he connects with students by just being himself. He says, “It’s easier for me to connect with you guys cause I’m not an old guy.” Mr. Ross also wants PE to be not as stressful as everyone’s academic classes, and just to have fun and play games. Mr. Ross is still learning the flow of how Mrs. Hanley and Mr. Schnirring teach in PE, so his teaching styles are still in the works, but are still a little bit similar to his coaching styles. His coaching style is mostly holding people to a high standard. For his PE class, he always wants his PE class to be the best PE class. Same with coaching, he wants his team to be the best team. And he mostly just wants PE to be a comfortable place for everyone, including the people who don’t enjoy PE as much. Mrs. Hanley also says that Mr. Ross has definitely grown as a teacher since the start of the year. She says there are still many things he has to work on as a new PE teacher, but he is doing a great job going with the flow and building connections with the kids. Being a new teacher is hard, but that doesn’t stop Mr. Ross from learning and growing as a PE teacher. He is doing a wonderful job at being a teacher at 7hills, and we are happy to have him here.
