This year, Arcadia High School (AHS) added new members to its staff team. One of these staff members is Ms. Malia Carr, a new Physical Education (PE) teacher here at AHS.
When asked about why she specifically chose a career in education, Ms. Carr explained how her past PE teachers had an immense impact on her and how that drove her to become a teacher.
“I think all my teachers actually impacted my education growing up like, for instance, I had Ms. Bauser when I was in sixth grade at Dana Middle School (DMS), and I loved PE because that was the only class I would actually look forward to because of her. Another PE teacher, Ms. Sanchez, at DMS, also sort of forged the way for me to become an instructor. Ms. Sanchez always really encouraged me through all my sports and, and I would just say they really positively impacted me as a person, as well as through AHS and college,” Ms. Carr said.
Ms. Carr shared her thoughts on the most crucial thing about being a teacher and what particularly makes it a thrilling challenge.
“I think it’s just really important to just make sure everybody includes others, so being very, very inclusive, and making class just a comfortable environment for everybody to learn and be very good participants is incredibly important in teaching,” Ms. Carr said.
She explained the most gratifying part of teaching is being able to see students adapt to challenges and learn from them.
“The most rewarding part of teaching is pretty much having students not like a sport, and then seeing them still try to their best ability. And then they end up really liking the sport, and then maybe try out for the sport in future years. I like to see the growth in the students,” Ms. Carr said.
Ms. Carr described how patience is important when being an instructor. Sometimes, students have their own way of learning.
“I would say definitely taking it slow, and making sure students actually understand the concept of each direction is important. Also, giving them enough time to understand fully,” said Ms. Carr. “If they don’t understand after that, we go backwards and try to get everybody to understand. After that, then we move forward, gradually, at the student’s own pace. This allows me to really understand what teaching methods work best for students.”
