Do we really know our teachers? I was able to interview Mrs. Kuhnz, a social studies teacher, to get to know a little bit more about her. She shares her music taste, her hobbies, and what she would do if she wasn’t a teacher.
Q: What type of music or what artists do you listen to in your free time?
A: Dave Matthews is my absolute favorite. If you have me in class, most of my kids know that I love him and I listen to him all the time. I love Pearl Jam, and I also love big band music and Frank Sinatra. But I listen to Dave Matthews all the time, like that’s just always on in my car. It’s kind of like my comfort, relaxation thing.
Q: Outside of school, what is your favorite hobby?
A: I think outside of school I probably spend most of my time with my kids and my family. We like to do a lot of stuff, and we always have people over. We’re pretty social. I would say I spend a lot of time with the important people in my life. And I like to shop!
Q: What is the biggest or most fun trip you’ve taken in your life?
A: Gosh, I think that’s hard, because I probably have a two way tie. One of them was when we took both of our kids to Disney World for my daughter’s fifth birthday and our wedding anniversary. That was the first time we had gone with both of our kids. And then last year, my daughter and I took a trip, just her and I to Naples, Florida over Christmas break, and that was super fun, because I knew that she’s gonna be moving away in the next year or two, or whatever, she’s growing up. So it was really nice for her and I just to get to go do that together, just us two.
Q: If you weren’t a teacher what would you be?
A: I would want to be a detective or a researcher, like a professional researcher and learning kids’ brains and ADHD and mental health kinds of things. I would love to read into that, or if I won the lottery I would love to just, like, learn. You know what I mean? Because I just love researching that stuff up. Or maybe a social worker too.
Q: What’s the biggest difference you’ve seen between when you were a high school student versus now as a high school teacher?
A: Oh, gosh. Well, I have been out of high school 30 years because I graduated in 1995. I just think the biggest piece is technology. Even when I was in high school, we barely used computers, you know. We just didn’t have them, and our teachers didn’t have them. If you had to type a paper you’d go to a lab and do it, but there were only so many. We had to hand write in cursive our research papers as kids, you know what I mean? Yeah, I’d have to have note cards. Society’s transformed so much, and it’s just because of all the innovations of technology.
Q: What book or movie do you think every student should read/watch?
A: The Breakfast Club. I just think it relates so much to life, and to be honest, other than their clothes, I think it’s just completely still relevant today. You know? It just really shows that as humans, we’re more alike than we really are different, but we put our guards up and don’t let people in or don’t want anyone to know that we probably all have the same challenges and issues going on in life.
Q: Anything else you would like people to know?
A: I have lived in Fond du Lac my entire life. So I went through the Fond du Lac school system and graduated, and then this is the only system I’ve ever taught in. Kids always say “well you know everyone,” but I think when you’ve lived in the same town for 49 years, and then you’ve taught for so many years, you realize Fond du Lac is actually a small town because you are connected to so many people. Yeah, that’s really important.
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