Have you seen a new face, a new teacher, and wonders who he is? Well the answer is here! His name is Mr. Lang and he’s the new gym teacher!
Mr . Lang is the school’s newest addition to the staff. He is the new gym teacher who teaches gym for the freshman here at HPHS. We asked him some questions about how much he likes working at Highland Park and his past experiences in the teaching field. From the information we collected from him, he has been a teacher for 25 years, and this is only the second high school he’s been in.
After taking a look at his third hour class, we observed that he is having quite some fun with his job. The class was playful, encouraging, and the students were cooperative with each other, as well as with their teacher.
We took a second to compare our freshman experience playing handball to their current experience. Handball is a soccer-like game but with your hands. You throw the ball to your teammates but there’s a catch, you can only take three steps with the ball then you have to pass it. The goal is to get as many points as you can by making a goal as you help your team until the teacher calls “End Game”. After that is called, students then rotate and go against their next opponents.
Last year, when my fellow writers and I were in 9th grade, we noticed our experience with handball consisted a lot of disagreement and separation. Boys were separated from the girls, and not everyone participated because we played it for about 1 week straight, and people were losing interest because the game wasn’t as fun since the boys and girls were separated.
The major difference between the time we played handball, and this year’s freshman classes are they did not sepeate the teams by gender, and nobody felt excluded when teams were formed. Everyone participated in the games each year, but last year it was more vague because some people did not want to go through meeting new people, and were just not into it.
We took the time to ask Mr. Lang a total of 6 questions related to him teaching at Highland Park, and some techniques he uses to keep his class motivated.
Q: How are you enjoying teaching at Highland? A: I love it. I’ve been a teacher for 25 years. Second high school I’ve been in. Kids here work hard, are fun to be around, and I have a great crew I work with Ferraro and Kramer.
Q: Are you proud with the environment with the class? A: Yeah. when the kids work hard it makes it easier, I don’t think there is such a thing that you can’t work hard.
Q: What are some of your teaching techniques you use to have the class more involved? A:Hmm that’s an interesting question. Well I like it when kids are sweating and smiling. If I could make the activities fun and if they are having fun and if they are being involved then I have done my job.
Q: As a new teacher, how has the staff welcomed you to the school? A: Everyone’s been real friendly being down at the gym. I haven’t been able to go out and meet as many as I would like and I’m just as happy to be here.
Q: What made you come to Highland to teach? A: I was offered the position from Mr. Ferraro and sort of Ms. Kramer spoke on my behalf, she talked to Dr. Tucker, he interviewed me and I got it.
Q: Is there a certain unit you would like to include or exclude from the curriculum? A: Oh! Hmm… well I was looking for new units, and new ideas and I wouldn’t eliminate anything… I’m always looking for new stuff. We’re adding a basketball class and we’ve never had one and I’m teaching that next year and a new soccer class.
After discussing about his journey so far at Highland Park, it was very interesting to meet and get to know Mr. Lang. Mr. Lang is very into what he does, and he wouldn’t dare to teach anywhere else. We had a very fun time interviewing him for his article. If you read this and you have him for a gym teacher, I recommend you put in your all in the activities he brings to you.
We enjoy meeting new people/teachers it is very helpful and has its advantages.
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