Coach Lawrence is a 9th grade history teacher here at Northbrook. He decided to become a history teacher because he was motivated by his high school coach. He had fun in his class and it made him want to come to school, and when he took his class he knew he could do the same thing. He says that lots of history classes are boring so since he’s a fun guy, maybe he could make history more fun for people. He could teach it to his classmates so he could do it as a career.

Lawrence is also the head golf coach. He also helps with a lot of other things. He coaches football and helps with baseball. Whenever someone asks for help he will try to go out and do what he can. Since he is a coach and a teacher he has a very busy schedule. He says it’s either really fun or really difficult. Some days it’s one thing after another. During football season he has little to no free time, he gets some time on the weekends but with all the work it’s not a lot. When the football season ends it gets easier. His time management to help his schedule is that he tries to get work done on Mondays and Fridays so that in case anything comes up he has plenty of time to make it up. He also works on the effects of ADHD to get a rush of work done when it really needs to be.

Coach Lawrence’s favorite thing about working as a teacher and a coach here at Northbrook is the students. He says that he knows not everyone here is the best but the good kids who care about their grades and what they do are what make it worth it.he says that Getting the chance to build relationships and be that person in somebody’s life that they may not have at home, is something that really means a lot to him. He said, “A lot of kids come into school one way and by the time they graduate, they’re a completely different person and all it takes is one teacher, I want to be that teacher for someone.”

One thing Coach Lawrence would change to improve the school are the punishments. He doesn’t agree with detention for the first tardy, because usually it’s not the students fault. Late buses get passes, and freshmen and sophomores usually rely on parents for rides so it’s not their fault if they’re late. Usually teachers end up with just getting an attitude from kids because of the punishment. “Kids would probably trust administrators more.”  He believes that there are  Certain things that should get punished that don’t , and some things that do get punished that shouldn’t be or not as harshly punished. He says that when you earn a  kid’s respect and trust, you’ll have less behavior problems. He also believes that Teachers Deserve respect until they prove they don’t, and a lot of kids don’t know that, they didn’t grow up like that. He says that  Every kid responds differently. Your relationship with them and how you respond and react is key.

Coach Lawrence talked about motivating kids in the classroom or on the field. He said, “Some kids just no matter what you do you can’t motivate because at the end of the day most motivation has to come from yourself. For the kids that care you take away playing time or tell them they’re gonna get a bad grade. For the kids that don’t care it takes charisma and finessing.” He connects with students by sitting down and talking to them. He gets to know what’s going on and what they are thinking. “Most of the time it works but there’s a handful where just nothing works, you can’t let them ruin your day.”

Whenever there’s a problem in the class he talks to them separately, then he sits them both down to communicate and listens to both sides to talk it out. He tries not to yell at students. He says people react differently when you yell, Most kids can tell when he’s serious and angry so when he yells kids know he means it and listen. 

Coach Lawrence invests students with students to keep the  class engaging and to help students understand whats happening by making the lessons funny and enjoyable. He makes stupid jokes, he knows that even if they suck the kids are still listening. If its fun for him, typically its fun for the kids as well. He said that To get kids to engage, he’ll walk around and remind them to stay on task. He knows they are human and make mistakes. Sometimes you have to step in and be mean. To build relationships he keeps things light with silly jokes and faces. He believes, if he can be himself, they can be themselves.