At the beginning of the school year, Blind Brook Middle and High School welcomed a new health and physical education teacher named Christina Schirone. So far this year, she has been teaching Health to the seventh and tenth graders.
Schirone spent the summer looking forward to meeting all the students and she said that she could not wait for the first day of school to arrive in September. “I was really looking forward to building rapport with students and so far, the best thing about teaching at Blind Brook are the students. They are all kind and motivated.” she said.
Modeling her mother’s career, Schirone had always wanted to be a teacher. She was inspired to specifically become a health and physical education teacher because of how her own high school health and physical education teacher impacted her life.
“I wanted to have the same opportunity as my high school teacher to impact students positively,” Schirone says, “I also wanted to make sure that my students understand all the facts of health and rule out all of the misconceptions.”
In order to become a Health and Physical Education teacher, Schirone obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Science and a Masters degree in Exercise Science. In addition, she had to take five certification tests. Now, she is qualified to teach in all grades ranging from kindergarten to senior year of high school.
Schirone enjoys teaching all the Health topics. However, her favorite unit is nutrition, “There are a lot of myths and misinformation about nutrition and by teaching this unit, I have an opportunity to correct and dispel anything that may not be true. Everyone gets only one body and nutrition is a unit where students learn how to take care of it.”
Schirone is specifically excited to do a hands-on activity with her Health students later this year. The lesson is interactive and includes activities where students will see the side effects of varying blood alcohol content levels. On this special day in class, along with many others, Schirone will demonstrate her creativity and ability to provide meaningful activities for her classes.
Schirone works in both the Middle School and High School and she believes that it will be rewarding to watch the middle school students grow. “I enjoyed having my Middle School and High School in the same building because, when I was younger, I was able to see my sister, who was in high school, during the day. I also believe that it is great for [middle school students] to see their role models in high school on a day to day basis.”
Specifically, she appreciates the opportunity to teach them again in tenth grade. Also, Schirone enjoys the convenience of Blind Brook as the middle and high schools are connected, allowing her to travel easily in between classes.
So far, Schirone has high hopes for her future at Blind Brook. She is looking forward to attending more of her students’ extra curricular activities and eventually getting involved in the school by coaching a team of one of her preferred sports, volleyball or basketball. “Life lessons are to be learned through sport, not just sitting at a desk.”