Age: 57
Home: St. Paul
Job: Teacher
Salary: $50,000-$65,000
Education: A bachelor of science degree in biology, a master's in education, University of Minnesota
Background: I was a ski instructor and a racing coach at Vail [Colo.] Really, I learned more there about how to do the job of teaching and how people learn than in pedagogy classes at the university. We were doing stuff back in the 1970s that's just now hitting the textbooks. Because we were just sports, we could take a lot of chances -- we didn't have to publish our work first and prove that this theory was [right].
Why did you switch to teaching junior high science? I started getting bored with skiing. And I loved skiing a lot, so I didn't want to do it until I hated it. I thought, "I'll study physical therapy and come back to the Alps and use sports to rehabilitate people." I didn't get into the school of therapy, but my mom had been a teacher and she said: "Go with your strengths; you know you're good at teaching." So I made the switch when I was 33.
What do you do every day? Before I leave school today, I have a very good plan for what I'm going to do with the kids tomorrow. I lay out materials for science labs and for classes that will get them to experience an activity. ... I try to create an experience here where I already know ahead of time what they're supposed to be learning -- create this environment where discovery learning happens.
Favorite part of teaching? By far, it's when kids go "aha!" or, "Oh! Oh! Oh!" and they're waving their hands up in the air because something just clicked in their brains. That just tickles the dickens out of me. I also love when kids come back later on and thank me for inspiring them because they've gone on to be doctors ... like I've planted the seed in them.
Hardest part? Dealing with kids who have given up. That's frustrating. I like to think I can reach them all, and then sometimes I feel like I can't. As a teacher, you do a lot of helping kids grow up -- outside of your domain of science.
Advice for new teachers? Get lots of sleep. It requires a great deal of energy, and if you don't put it out and give it to the kids, they'll probably take it from you anyway.
Tips for kids? School is basically easy. All your friends are there. They feed you lunch. You can play in gym, and none of the work is really very hard. It's easier to do it right the first time around than to have your parents and teachers ground you and discipline you and take away your toys, and then you do the work anyway.
I show kids: A passion for a way of solving problems or looking at the world.
Kids show me: You can change the world, a little bit at a time.
HILARY BRUECK
