For this Teacher Feature: we talked to assistant marching band director and math teacher, Mr. Kinzler, who taught at Shaler Area Middle and is now teaching at the high school.
Q: How long have you been teaching for and where have you taught?
A: So this is my 10th year teaching. I was at the Shaler Middle School for five years and then before that I taught for four years at Avella.
Q: Where did you go to college and what was your major?
A: I graduated from Penn State and I majored in secondary education mathematics.
Q: What are all the classes you teach now and the classes you have taught in the past?
A: I have taught math seven, math eight, algebra one, honors algebra one, honors geometry, algebra two, honors pre-calculus, AP calculus AB, AP calculus BC, and I guess statistics kind of when I was a long term sub.
Q: Do you enjoy teaching?
A: No, I hate it. I’m just kidding, I love it.
Q: This year, you’re new to the high school. Have you ever taught high schoolers before?
A: Yes, I have and I enjoyed it.
Q: What was your first car?
A: Wow. My first car was a 2004 Toyota Corolla, I believe. It was this ugly beige grayish color and a hand-me-down. It was pretty great.
Q: What was your favorite concert?
A: At Penn State, they have this musical festival in the spring every year. There was a bunch of artists there like, Little Big Town and Lupe Fiasco. So, yeah, that was definitely my favorite concert.
Q: What would your last meal be?
A: I would definitely start of with a pizza, specifically from Fiori’s. I’m a big fan of their banana pepper and hot sausage. Then, I would definitely get a salad, I’m a big salad guy. Growing up, my mom would make these chocolate chip cream cheese cookies, definitely got to have those. I’d want some buffalo chicken sandwich of some sort. And unsweetened iced tea. Maybe I should stop at that. Yeah we’ll stop there.
Q: What is your favorite slang you have heard your students use and can you try and use it in a sentence?
A: Oh my gosh. Uh, being in Ohio is bad apparently? I don’t know how to do this. Maybe like, giving homework on a Friday is very Ohio? We’ll go with that.
Q: Did you always want to be a teacher?
A: Oh yeah, I wanted to be a teacher since the 2nd grade. My second grade teacher was the reason I wanted to be a teacher. She was awesome. She used to read us Harry Potter, you know, the cool stuff.
Q: Did you always want to be a math teacher, or was there another subject you thought of teaching?
A: At one point, I wanted to get into special education. Then I thought I wanted to be a music teacher. I just love math, so that’s why I settled on math.
Q: What was your fattest moment?
A: Can I just say my whole childhood? This is a great question, I love it. I ate my first adult meal when I was approximately 18 months old. I was throwing a fit because the food was taking forever. When it came, I ate my food. Then when they brought out my parents’ meals, I had half of my mom’s meal and half of my dad’s. I think that that set the trend for a lot of eating.
Q: What was one of the craziest places you’ve ever been to?
A: I was in New Orleans for five days in college. It was like five days after Mardi Gras. I was there with the pep band for a women’s basketball tournament. All we had to do was play at the basketball games, so other than that, we just got to hang out there. It was insane. It’s the most insane place I’ve ever been to.
Q: What is the difference between teaching high school students and middle schoolers?
A: So high school students are a little more mature. They are more ambitious, they kind of know what they want to do, they have a more set plan. The environment in a high school classroom is definitely more serious than a middle school one. I can also push high schoolers more and get into more difficult subjects. I love teaching both though.
