Ann Rowles
Q: Where did you go to high school and could you describe your high school experience?
A: I went to Clearfield High School; I graduated with a little over 200 kids. I took a lot of honors classes, and it was a pretty easy experience for me going into college.
Q: How have the first few weeks of school gone for you?
A: Good, a lot of the fellow teachers have helped me out immensely by getting my room prepared. Students have been very nice with things such as correcting names. So it’s been a nice couple of weeks. I was nervous about the transition; it usually takes me a lot of time to get my room ready. I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like, and they had it totally ready for me.
Q: If you could describe your new classroom in one word what would it be?
A: Organized.
Q: Could you describe your prior teaching experience?
A: I taught at Glendale for seven and a half years; the students are very similar in personality. Of course this is a lot larger of a school, where at Glendale I knew every student, and it’s going to take me a bit to adapt to that.
Q: What got you interested in the subject you teach and what was your favorite growing up?
A: I’ve always been interested in chemistry, but biology was always my favorite subject growing up. When I got into college, I realized I liked chemistry more.
Q: What brought you to Altoona to teach?
A: I wasn’t looking to change jobs, but it was getting a little bit monotonous there. I loved it there, I loved the students, but I felt I wasn’t challenging myself as a teacher at all. I knew there were other chemistry teachers here I could learn from.
Q: What inspired you to become a teacher?
A: It’s hard to say; I have a little sister who is 15 years younger than me. I always grew up teaching her. It felt like part of me; I was always helping other students in college, and tutoring some. You’re also always making an impact on students whether it’s a good or bad impact, so I always keep that in the back of my mind.
Q: Why did you choose to teach high school?
A: I just felt like I could handle high school better. I feel like I would be crazy if I had to control behavior every second and explain every little thing to younger kids. I can usually assume kids in high school know what to do, and I don’t have to explain everything. I also enjoy being able to help kids after high school get into college or the military.
Q: What would be a suggestion you have to make AAHS better?
A: It’s very ironed out here, they know what they are doing as far as behavior, the only thing I don’t know about is things like positive reinforcement, like we had Viking bucks at Glendale students could spend. In my classes, I plan for students to be able to get vouchers for things like the coffee cart, and I think I’ll do that myself.
Q: If you could teach another subject what would it be and why?
A: Math, I like the math side of chemistry the most out of everything. I like teaching kids easy step wise what to do, and I think it’s easy to do that in math.
Q: What is your go to snack or lunch item to bring with you to school?
A: Coffee, I think that’s the biggest thing, so as long as I have coffee I’m good.
Q: If you could choose one fast food restaurant to be in the school cafeteria what would it be and what would you order there?
A: Chick-Fil-A, I love their original sandwiches.
Q: Who has been the most help to you as you have started this new job?
A: Mrs. Falger, Mrs DeShong, Mr. Steininger and all of the chemistry staff. They all have helped me so much; I can always come to one of them for help. At Glendale, I was the only chemistry teacher so everything was on me, whereas here it’s so nice to bounce ideas, to compare things like their labs here to the ones I’ve done for years.