Teachers Talk Teaching

There are many different reasons why teachers are so passionate about what they do. One new teacher at FCHS, Zane Hurst, found his love for teaching history 15 years ago when he was asked to teach a few classes in college. Kayla Pace, the new Health and Medical teacher, has been teaching for three years and started teaching because she enjoys working with children. As for new History teacher Laura Greene, she has been around teaching her whole life because her mother was an English teacher.

For Hurst, seeing students learn, interacting with them, and showing them how education is important are just some of his top priorities. “I enjoy watching students going above and beyond, and thinking for themselves,” said Hurst. Teaching means so much to Greene because she loves being able to affect the students that are left behind and overlooked, while Pace said she likes teaching because she enjoys helping students learn new material.

Although Hurst said he finds it a challenge to motivate his students, he always tries his hardest. He is determined to teach kids the importance of history and to make his students understand and value its importance. “I find history fascinating. Showing students how history still affects us today and what you do now is deciding the future is so important to me,” said Hurst. 

Meanwhile, Greene played teacher with her mom growing up, helping her with grading papers and using her mom’s old grade books as her own. She said she always wanted to be a teacher because of her mom, and up to this point, has been a middle school teacher. “I cannot remember a time not wanting to be a teacher,” said Greene.

 Pace does admit that she likes teachers’ hours and summer breaks, as well as working with students. “I enjoy teaching students about health care and all the opportunities it provides,”she said. She took a break from teaching from 2016 to 2019 to expand her education and attend nursing school.

Teachers always face challenges, and for Greene, that includes how to relate material to kids, how to motivate them, and how to manage her planning time. “I’m helping out with middle school volleyball this year, so working my schedule around that can be tough sometimes,” said Greene. Pace said her most difficult problems would be cellphones and discipline and for Hurst motivating his students is a big challenge.