The bright lights had caught me off guard as I walked into the room. The classroom had no windows, but had three doors on three of the four walls. I could faintly hear two math classes being taught on each side of me. The setting was very quiet and calm. It was so silent my normal speaking voice sounded loud. I sat down with Mr. Madley and began our conversation.

I started off the conversation by asking Mr. Madley, “How has your day been?” Mr. Madley’s reply was,  “The days just getting started, but not bad so far.” My next question was, “What is the biggest challenge you have faced this past year and what did you do to overcome it?” Mr. Madley said, the biggest challenge he faced this year was transitioning from teaching elementary school to teaching high school. “After teaching EOC at the elementary school level for 20 years, I decided to come to high school and teach ECO.”  Mr. Madley stated, “I’m still adjusting so I wouldn’t say I’ve overcome that, but I am still working on it.,”  He dove deeper saying from a paperwork standpoint the way things are run logistically are very different. I followed up with the question “Did you like teaching elementary school more than high school?”  Mr. Madley answered, “Yeah I really enjoyed teaching elementary school.”  He went on to further explain when he was teaching elementary, he had a different position, but the district changed his position and for three years he wasn’t happy, so he decided to come to the high school and try something different. I asked Mr. Madley, “Would you say this past year has been stressful and if so, what has made it stressful?  Mr. Madley said his year had been somewhat stressful due to always being busy. “I coach football, and I help coach weightlifting, and the football season keeps me very busy. I have almost 12-hour days before I get home.” I asked Mr. Madley, “What is your New Year’s resolution?” He said he’s not big into making resolutions’, but he always tells himself as a reminder to keep his body and his mind active. My last question for Mr. Madley was, “If you had one, would your New Year’s resolution be influenced by working in a school?” He said, “It would definitely be influenced by working in a school because it’s a job that’s very stressful and for me a new year’s resolution really has to due with your mental and physical well-being; so trying to balance everything with that is the biggest challenge and it would have an influence on it for sure.” I think people can learn a lot from this by changing the way of seeing a new year resolution, from setting your personal goal to always reminding yourself to keep mentally and physically active. Overall, my conversation with Mr. Madley was interesting and insightful. It showed how demanding and challenging teaching can be, especially during the transition from an elementary school to a high school. Mr. Madley’s dedication to his students is very inspirational as well as his ability to staying healthy.