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The heart can beat outside of the human body as long as it’s sup- plied with a proper oxygen source.
HSC INTERVIEW
with Mrs. Setzkorn
by Saejin Yoon (703) and Willow Norman (705)
Q: When did you start working at HSC and what subject did you teach?
A: In September, 2006. I was a grade 5 home form teacher and I taught grade 5 math, English, social studies, HPE.
Q: Why did you decide to start teaching HPE?
A: I did a kinesiology course in university, so I knew a lot about HPE.
Q: Did you always want to be a teacher or did you want to be something else when you were younger? Why did you choose to be a teacher?
A: I didn't always want to be a teacher. When I was younger, I wanted to be a pediatrician, and in university I was a health promoter for a while. At McMaster, I did some kinesiology studies, but my heart was in teaching. I taught kids gymnastics when I was younger and loved connecting with the kids and teaching them.
Q: Do you feel like you are appreciated by students for what you do?
A: Yes! I received many letters around Christmastime. Someone also wrote a thank you note for me when we were doing thank you notes in our health unit. Q: Do you have an interesting story about something that happened while you were teaching?
A: The best experience teaching at HSC is to take students on fun trips (St Donat, Ottawa, E-week) and College events, like Relay for Life. It is nice to see students come together.
Q: What do you like about your job?
A: I love the school life part because I get to organize all of the activities, and I like teaching HPE because I like seeing my students physically active and devoted in my class.
Q: What challenges do you face with your job?
A: Balancing school life with academics and trying to be considerate of teachers—also trying to get through the curriculum while also planning fun events.
Q: How do you manage being both the Vice Principal of School Life as well as an HPE teacher? Do you ever struggle to keep up with both roles?
A: Yes, there is always a kind of struggle, but for me, trying to dedicate the time that I need with the HPE teaching, so when I’m teaching HPE, I needs to focus on HPE, and for School Life, I need to focus on School Life.
Q: What has changed about your job while being online?
A: Engagement. It‘s hard to keep students engaged online. There were some House challenges last year, but not many students did them. I organized some GLOW activities, but I don’t know if many students are participating.
Q: Do you notice any changes in behaviour when students are online?
A: They are very quiet and less likely to participate because they are very tired.
A: It‘s easier to collaborate with other teachers. Also, getting guest speakers is easier because they can’t come in person, but they can meet us on Zoom. It’s nice to be able to gather as a whole school online, which is something we can’t do in person right now.
A: For me, it’s hard to balance working and being a mom at the same time. The students need me to teach, but my kids also need me.
Q: Where do you find the creativity in planning online lessons vs. in person lessons?
A: It comes from collaboration. All the HPE teachers work together to create lessons.
Q: Do you think you are treated differently as the Vice Principal of
