Beginning the 2023-2024 school year, Lakeview High School has introduced many new teachers. These teachers are meant to increase the curriculum as well as a better learning environment presented to the attending students. Newly hired teacher, Lisa Donaldson, has taken over physical education and health at Lakeview High School.
Donaldson attended Youngstown State University where she studied health and physical education. Before beginning her career at Lakeview High School, she had previous teaching experience within Trumbull County. Donaldson’s first teaching position was at Warren G. Harding High School where she remained for nineteen years. She then taught at Jefferson High School for two years before transferring her career to Lakeview.
Currently, Lakeview teachers struggle to properly teach their students with a lack of necessary equipment. Teachers, such as Ms. Donaldson, want to provide proper education to their students.
Ninth grader Lillianna Masteller states, “Ms. Donaldson always says ‘I can’t make something out of nothing’ so she makes up fun games for us.”
Donaldson uses her limited resources to create games to help educate and keep her students active. The use of games helps to keep students engaged and allows them to truly enjoy the class with their classmates.
Student management is an extremely important aspect of a teacher’s job. A lack of management allows chaos within the classroom and overall a lack of respect for everyone.
Ninth grader Alaia Anderson stated, “She does a good job managing students and keeping things fair.”
Donaldson’s control and respect within the classroom allow her to keep her class running smoothly. She also manages to keep an environment within her classroom to ensure fairness for all of her students. Minimizing competitiveness allows a sense of equality within the classroom for her students.
An extremely important part of a teacher’s job is creating a connection with the students. Donaldson makes it a point to connect with her students to create a better environment for everyone.
According to ninth grader Denica Merten, “The class is kinda fun, Ms. Donaldson is nice and is very easy to get along with.”
During the beginning of the class that I visited, Donaldson was having various conversations with her students and was even joking with them before starting their class time. The class environment is relaxed and allows the students to be themselves and have fun due to the efforts given by Donaldson.
Students within Donaldson health and physical education class agree she is an excellent teacher added to Lakeview High School’s staff. She has managed to create an environment filled with equality and fun for all of her students while continuing to teach them the importance of their own health. With this relaxed space for her students, she has gained respect from them. Donaldson has brought something amazing to Lakeview, a non-competitive environment for students to learn and be active. She is a fantastic addition to Lakeview High School’s health and physical education curriculum.
