By Matthew Libersky

Ms. Kristen Dorland recently began teaching English in Plymouth. Photo by: Matthew Libersky

Moving to a new school can be stressful as a student, but one can only imagine the hard work it takes to teach at a completely new school.

Four new teachers have joined the Plymouth High School staff as the result of various teachers’ retirements and relocations. The English, Agriculture, History, and Physical Education departments have all gained one teacher each over the summer.

It is safe to say they had a hectic summer.
Ms. Kristen Dorland joined the Language Arts department with Mrs. Melissa DeFord’s leave of absence. Prior to her employment here, she completed her student teaching experience in Warsaw Community Schools. Before that, she completed her degree in English Education at Grace College in Winona Lake, a town near Warsaw, Indiana.
Prior to moving to Indiana, she worked as an insurance agent in Evart, Michigan, a small town in northern Michigan. After she completed her degree, she moved to Warsaw, and worked as a student teacher in Warsaw. After she completed her student teaching experience, she began the process of familiarizing herself with the policies of Plymouth High School and putting together her lesson plans.
“The experiences I had while working in my room preparing for the first day of school really set the tone for my experience here,” Ms. Dorland said. “Many teachers and administrators stopped in to say hello, welcome me to Plymouth High School, and offered to help or answer any questions. I already felt like part of the team.”
Ms. Dorland currently teaches two classes – ninth grade English and ninth grade English Lab. In the future, she will also teach eleventh grade English. Though she has a hard time choosing a favorite class, she said English Lab is interesting because it is smaller group and she can design her instruction “a little more specifically to help my students. We have a lot of fun in that class.”
Overall, she said she most enjoys teaching literature and grammar.
She arrives at school around 7 A.M. after commuting a half-hour from Warsaw. From there, she prepares her classroom for the day – updating the white board and setting out materials that students need that day. She also checks her e-mail and drinks a cup of coffee. From there it’s teaching classes, and if she gets any free time she uses it to grade, read, and plan.

Mr. John Kozlovich is Plymouth’s new World History teacher. Photo by: Matthew Libersky

She said the most memorable and enjoyable thing about teaching at the end of the day is the students.  She “loves getting to know them, learning about their personalities and interests, and watching them achieve success […]. When a student can not wait to tell me about his/her soccer game or the quiz he/she just aced, it makes [me happy].”
The Physical Education department also had a new staff member join their team – Mr. Mike Kershner. Mr. Kershner has experience teaching in Plymouth – he taught P.E. at the elementary level for the previous 10 years. He taught at Menominee Elementary School during each of those years, as well as   Washington and Jefferson occasionally.
It was not a tough move.
“All I  really had to do was move my teaching materials from the elementary schools to the high school. Also, I had to look at and go over the Health and P.E. curriculum,” Mr. Kershner said.
He had to get used to the difference in schedules – in elementary school, he only taught the same students two times per week. Now, he sees the same people everyday, for 70 minute periods. While possibly exhausting, he said it gives him more time to connect with and get to know his students.
“I enjoy getting to know them and trying to impact their life in a positive way,” Mr. Kershner said.
He currently teaches two periods of Physical Education, and one period of Health. He said that Health – a subject that he did not teach at the elementary schools – is interesting to teach because it is an everyday subject and he gets to know his students on a personal level during the class.
With the retirement of Mr. Larry McCollough, the Agriculture department was also left with an open position. Ms. Kelli Hoffman was chosen to fill that spot. Before she began teaching here, she was completing her student teaching experience at Manchester High school in North Manchester, Indiana. After graduating from college, she taught at Clinton Central High School, a school in a small town between Lafayette, Indiana and Kokomo, Indiana. Before that, she filled in for a teacher on maternity leave at Lebanon High School, northwest of Indianapolis, Indiana.
“I spent the entire summer writing lesson plans for the new classes I’d be teaching,” Ms. Hoffman said. “I also spent over one week cleaning out my classroom and shop.”
She teaches three different classes this trimester (four total), and she said that preparing for all them is no easy task – especially when she hasn’t had the chance to prepare lesson plans in the past. “In agriculture, we [do not] have cookie cutter lessons – we must create and design everything,” Ms. Hoffman said.
She teaches Agricultural Mechanics, Advanced Life Science, and Fundamentals of Agriculture – though she said that she is licensed to teach 13 different subject areas in Agriculture.
Out of all those classes, she most looks forward to Advanced Life Science because the upperclassmen in the class work hard to learn the tough material–and she has to work hard to keep current with the ALS curriculum.
The Social Studies department also had a new staff member join the department over the summer. Mr. John Kozlovich was hired two weeks before the start of school to replace Mr. Russ Teall, who retired from teaching after nearly 40 years. Before working here, Mr. Kozlovich was working as a graduate assistant, which allowed him to earn his master’s degree in History and teaching certification simultaneously. Prior to attending Ball State University, he completed his degree from the University of Wisconsin – Superior in 2004.
He currently only teaches one class – World History – but that seems to keep him busy enough as he had only two weeks to prepare lessons and material for his class. “The best preparation strategy, I’ve found, is to get in early and set a clear agenda,” Mr. Kozlovich said.
Though he has taught U.S. History in the past, he said that teaching only World History provides for more variety – it encompasses a wider variety of subjects and cultures, rather than just the U.S.
“I love [having] the opportunity to illuminate and connect the dots for students who have not thought about History. […] It’s an enlightening experience.”
While working as a Graduate Assistant at Ball State University, he was tasked with running study sessions, grading papers and tutoring students one-on-one – which all helped him prepare for teaching in high school. Though he always knew that he might want to teach, his experience as a G.A. made him more certain that he wanted to teach and help children learn the concepts rather than researching.