Central Times correspondent Marcin Balutowski met up with new staff member Matt Zieman and discussed Zieman’s teaching experiences at Central and as a coach.

MB: What is your occupation and what do you teach?

MZ: [I am a] social studies teacher. This year I teach American Government, World Cultures and US History.

MB: Do you like Naperville Central?

MZ: Absolutely. I went to Naperville Central, graduated in 2006, student taught here in 2011 and this is my first year back.

MB:What got you interested in teaching?

MZ: To be honest it was the wonderful teachers in this department. Gentlemen like Mr. Holmberg and Mr. Albiniak. I had [these] in class and they made me really understand why social studies is important

MB: Do you like teaching?

MZ: Absolutely, [its a] super fun, wonderful experience and its very important to me. To be able to kind of shape people for growth in the future and helping guide them in what they are eventually going to do. It gives me great joy even in a small part in people’s lives.

MB: How do you run your classroom?

MZ: “On a given day it varies. Depending on what we are looking at I really like letting students take control of their learning. Giving students a choice in the direction the class goes. I am kind of a goofball in class usually: if we are lecturing: I am kind of being crazy. I like when kids are collaborating to some greater end.

MB: What rooms do you travel to?

MZ: I am in Mr. Smith’s room, Mr. Ulreich room, Mr. Brady room, this semester and next semester I don’t even know, I got 4 rooms.

MB: What periods do you teach?

MZ: I teach one, two, three and then I am off four, then I teach five, then I am off six and seven then I teach eighth. During 6th period I sit in the pool lobby I am kind of a hallway monitor.

MB: What football division do you coach

MZ: I coach at Washington still, I have done this for the past 3 years [and] this year I coach the lightweights. This year we merged with 204, so we are playing with the 204 middle schools this year. So, our weight classes are much different. We have something like 41 kids on our team where as last year we only had 21. It’s fun, we are 1 and 1 [in the Season].”