{"id":9432,"date":"2014-09-04T10:25:35","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T15:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=9432"},"modified":"2014-09-04T11:30:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T16:30:13","slug":"mr-nordman-and-ms-moore-join-plymouth-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=9432","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore Join Plymouth High School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DSC_0597\"<\/a>

Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore discuss an upcoming project in the flex space in WSOI. As co-teachers, they must communicate effectively. Mr. Nordmann said, “We\u2019ve tried to establish the same rule, what we think, and what our classroom should do. We\u2019ve stayed on the same page so far.” Photo by Emory Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

By Emory Smith<\/em><\/p>\n

As the 2014-2015 school year commences, first year teachers, Mr. Curtis Nordmann and Ms. Lindsay Moore experience Plymouth High School.<\/p>\n

These two co-teachers are instructing Algebra I and Geometry, primarily with students enrolled in WSOI. Though both have converged at PHS, they have thoroughly distinct educational and experiential backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Ms. Moore, though she did not initially prognosticate teaching, has inculcated math into her education. She said, \u201cI have a bachelor\u2019s degree from Purdue in multidisciplinary engineering, and I studied engineering and pre-med courses. I knew very early in the engineering program that it didn\u2019t have enough interaction with people, and I stuck out the program because I was thinking about going into physical therapy or prosthetic design so I could have more of that interaction. Throughout the process, I tutored students in math. I have a little brother and cousins, and I get face time calls saying, \u2018Hey, I need help with this math problem.\u2019 So I\u2019ve done that all along the line, and I got done with engineering and I thought, \u2018What am I going to do?\u2019…. I thought, \u2018I should teach math.\u2019 It\u2019s been a great decision.\u201d In conjunction with her experience in engineering and tutoring, facilitating vacation bible school programs has convinced Ms. Moore that teaching is her calling.<\/p>\n

Mr. Nordmann has a respective educational and experiential background. Unlike Ms. Moore, Mr. Nordmann knew throughout his time at Manchester University that teaching was for him. He said, \u201cI mean everybody says [they want to be a teacher] because they love kids, but it is the truth. I love being around kids. I love helping them out. I love the fact that I can help someone attain something, an education, and then it can never be taken away from them. [I enjoy] affecting them and helping them with intellectual skills, and maybe if they are struggling, struggling with things in life, helping them with that as well. Being a role model to kids [is another reason why I became a teacher.]\u201d \u00a0While consciously enjoying the convictions of teachers, Mr. Nordmann has prepared himself through experiences with a populous family, babysitting jobs, library operations, and basketball and baseball leagues. He said, \u201cIt all comes together to help me with teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Though<\/a>

Though Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore’s personality tests have been opposites “almost exactly” according to Ms. Moore, it has not been a challenge. Mr. Nordmann said, “It’s made us better. We’ve done well together.” Photo by Emory Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

Notwithstanding, one cannot be completely prepared for teaching according to Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore. Mr. Nordmann said, \u201cAll of the extra stuff that comes along with [teaching], you can\u2019t be prepared for. Grading homework, dealing with parents, dealing with students, all kinds of students-you can\u2019t ever be prepared for that. I don\u2019t think you can really prepare someone for that. You have to experience it and learn how to handle it effectively.\u201d Furthermore, Ms. Moore and Mr. Nordmann have the requirements of co-teaching. Ms. Moore said, \u201cI think it takes us extra time to plan. Whereas, if I had my own classroom, and I didn\u2019t have a partner, I could just say, \u2018This is what we are going to do tomorrow, and it\u2019s going to be great.\u2019 But, having a partner, there are times where I need to say, \u2018This is what I\u2019m thinking. What do you think?\u2019 We have to communicate a lot more than I think people who aren\u2019t partnered.\u201d Both Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore concurred that co-teaching has intensified their effectiveness. \u00a0A few of the advantages of co-teaching, described by Mr. Nordmann are: helping each other when \u201croadblocked,\u201d coordinating activities, as well as generating ideas and how to implement them.<\/p>\n

In addition to each other, Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore have found succor in PHS\u2019s technology and students. \u00a0Regarding PHS\u2019s one on one technology program, Mr. Nordmann said, \u201cIt is awesome. First of all, you have direct contact with students, if you need to, and direct contact with parents whenever you need to. Representing things, especially with math, is so much easier. Getting things to students is so much easier. It\u2019s just great. I also think you can reach other learning styles better.\u201d While computers in the classroom have been implements for Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore to assist students, students have been helpful concerning technology and mundane procedures. Ms. Moore said, \u201cI think one of the most surprising things is how helpful the students have been. On the first day, we came back from lunch and they were all sitting there ready to go again. It\u2019s a community not a \u2018let me check out\u2019 environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surprises and experiences that result from teaching contribute to an enlightened outlook on life. Ms. Moore said, \u201cI think my outlook on life would be that we always have more to learn. Each person has their own mini expertise they carry with them. So from each person you encounter, you can always learn something. Whether it\u2019s something you\u2019re learning about yourself or about life in general, or about working with others, I think that there is always something to learn.\u201d \u00a0Mr. Nordmann said, \u201cMy outlook on life is that life is short, and all the good you can do, helping people out, passing on what kind of person you are, your character, your morals, and helping kids out, should be above everything else.\u201d Along with this, Mr. Nordmann has adopted the philosophy: \u201cFailure leads to success.\u201d He said, \u201cI love it when someone fails at a project and they rebound with an amazing comeback. It\u2019s awesome. I really think that failing at something and learning to overcome it is the key to success.\u201d<\/p>\n

With their outlooks on life and personal experiences under their belts, Mr. Nordmann and Ms. Moore have launched into the 2014-2015 school year at PHS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emory Smith As the 2014-2015 school year commences, first year teachers, Mr. Curtis Nordmann and Ms. Lindsay Moore experience Plymouth High School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":9527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-9432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-news","tag-september-2014"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9432"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9552,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432\/revisions\/9552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}