Classroom Conversations: Mr. Beckerink and Kennedy
The “classroom” of Classroom Conversations looks a bit different today, as The Huddle joins Physical Education (P.E.) teacher Mr. Beckerink and his student, Kennedy. This classroom has bleachers, basketball hoops, and ample open space for students to run, jump, and play — the State St. gymnasium.
In this conversation, Mr. Beckerink, the 2023-24 school year Specials Teacher Award winner, and ambitious 5th grader Kennedy discuss positive framing, staying active, and a shared love of Harry Potter.
The Huddle: Can you please introduce yourselves?
Mr. Beckerink: I'm Mr. Beckerink! I teach K-5 P.E. here at State Street. I chose Kennedy because we've had a really good relationship for the last year and a half. I think she is a lot of fun, she's really hardworking, she's really creative, and she's always enthusiastic about whatever we're doing in P.E. class or at recess — or even just saying hi to me in the hallway.
Kennedy: My name is Kennedy, and I am in the 5th grade!
Mr. Beckerink: Alright, Kennedy. I’ll give you a softball: What’s your favorite activity to play in P.E.?
Kennedy: Tag!
Mr. Beckerink: Tag? Do you have a specific tag game you like?
Kennedy: No, not really… except for octopus tag!
Mr. Beckerink: Octopus tag? Alright, we'll have to break that one out again. [To the Huddle:] Octopus tag is where — I made a hula hoop with a bunch of pool noodles attached to it — the tagger stands in the middle of that and tries to run around and tag people with the pool noodles.
The Huddle: Madness!
Mr. Beckerink: Yeah, it is chaotic but very fun. [To Kennedy:] Glad you remember that!
Kennedy: How long have you been teaching?
Mr. Beckerink: This is my second year teaching! My job here at State Street was my first job out of college.
Kennedy: Why did you want to be a P.E. teacher?
Mr. Beckerink: So I wanted to be a P.E. teacher because I love working with scholars and building relationships with them. Giving them an opportunity to be active and be exposed to all sorts of different activities, sports, and ways to stay fit, as well as just providing, hopefully, a consistent encouraging relationship. To provide opportunities for students to push themselves to grow, especially in a space that's different from traditional academics. I think that gives a lot more students opportunities to be successful when they're trying out different things. What do you think?
Kennedy: Pretty good answer! Long answer, but I liked it.
Mr. Beckerink: Do you feel like that's what we're doing in P.E. class?
Kennedy: Mmhmm!
Mr. Beckerink: Alright, good!
Kennedy: What’s hard about teaching?
Mr. Beckerink: Ooo, the fun questions! There are some things that are hard about teaching. It can be challenging to get all scholars to listen and engage with what we're doing.
Because I teach so many different kids, having scholars that are at all different levels in all different grade levels and all different skill levels, it can be challenging to meet everybody where they're at, but it does provide a cool opportunity to let scholars start where they are and then try to grow from where they are. That just makes it harder for me as a teacher — it's not cookie-cutter. Everybody kind of starts at a different skill level; you have to give them an opportunity to start where they are and then improve.
Good question!
Kennedy: What is your favorite thing about teaching?
Mr. Beckerink: I think it's just getting to build relationships with all the kids. Especially being a specialist teacher, I get to work with 275 different kids, build relationships with all of them, and see them all consistently. Seeing them grow and getting to build relationships with them is definitely my favorite part!
Mr. Beckerink: With that, do you have any advice for me on how I can continue to try to be a good teacher?
Kennedy: Yeah, when you whistle and you have that microphone, you should probably try to take the microphone away because it gets super loud!
Mr. Beckerink: Mhmm, okay — thank you! That is helpful. [To The Huddle:] We've got a new speaker system in here, and I'm still working out the kinks on when to use the whistle, when to use my voice, and when to turn the microphone on and off. [Back to Kennedy] That is helpful feedback, though. Thank you!
Mr. Beckerink: How long have you been at United?
Kennedy: I can never recall this memory, but I think it's since kindergarten!
Mr. Beckerink: Since kindergarten? So, this has been your only elementary school then, right?
Kennedy: Yeah!
Mr. Beckerink: So, how about… we did favorite memory from fifth grade. What's your favorite memory from your whole six years at State Street?
Kennedy: Always getting to meet the teachers!
Mr. Beckerink: Yeah?
Kennedy: [My kindergarten teacher] was super funny! I remember this one time, when we were stretching — because, in kindergarten, we didn't have desks until way back into the year, so we used to sit on the carpet — and she'd make us get up and stretch our legs. I remember one time, she told us to stretch both of our legs back and everybody's like, “That's not possible!! We can't do that! Ahh!!”
Mr. Beckerink, laughing: That's awesome! That was in kindergarten, you said? Nice, that's funny.
Kennedy: What’s your favorite thing about this school?
Mr. Beckerink: I think my favorite thing about this school is the people. Both the kids and the staff. I love the staff that I get to work with. The specials team is so fun to collaborate with; we built really good relationships. The administration and other teachers are all super supportive; anything that I need help with or if I have what I think is a good idea to do with the kids, they are super supportive and very encouraging, and provide me with whatever I need. It's a very fun place to work because of the people!
Kennedy: Cool, cool, cool!
Mr. Beckerink: You asked me what my favorite thing about working here is. What’s your favorite thing about going to school here?
Kennedy: Definitely the specials!
Mr. Beckerink: Yeah?
Kennedy: Yeah, definitely the specials!
Mr. Beckerink: Oh, awesome!
Kennedy: In specials, you get to get up, sing, make art, just run around, or jump for when you can't do it in class. Because a whole lot of kids got all that energy — especially me! I know how many times I just got up out of my seat just to stand, and it's so great!
Mr. Beckerink: I feel that! Well, good! I'm glad you feel that way. I’m the same way. I cannot be in a job where I'm just sitting all day. I love that I get to be up and moving and do that with you all.
Kennedy: What’s your favorite thing about my grade?
Mr. Beckerink: I think my favorite thing about your grade is how you all have grown over the last year and a half. I started with you as fourth graders, and now, seeing you as fifth graders has just been — not the whole way — but some level of growth and maturity among your classmates and your class culture as a whole. Especially during P.E. class, because we do a lot of teamwork and sportsmanship-oriented things. Those were a challenge at the beginning of fourth grade, but, towards the end of fourth grade and now into fifth grade, they've been a lot more successful and working together and being able to be competitive in a healthy way with each other, which has been really sweet.
Kennedy: Yeah!
Mr. Beckerink: What’s your favorite activity to do outside of school? Your favorite sport or way to stay active?
Kennedy: Basketball!
Mr. Beckerink: Yeah? Let’s go! I love basketball, too.
Kennedy: What’s your favorite way to stay active?
Mr. Beckerink: Ooo, other than teaching, because I'm very blessed that in teaching, I get to move around a lot and do a lot of the activities that I love, I love lifting weights and exercising. I'll often do that after school, and I also love playing basketball. Getting together with my friends and playing pickup basketball is probably my favorite sport to do to stay active.
Mr. Beckerink: Kennedy, what do you want to be when you grow up? What's your dream college or your dream job?
Kennedy: I think I want to be an astronaut! It could change at any time, but, I always said, the last thing I probably want to do in my life is go see the moon and the stars.
Mr. Beckerink: Yeah, that would be super cool!
Kennedy, impassioned: Because you can never see any stars down on Earth because people are scared of the dark!
Mr. Beckerink: Especially in the city, it's harder, huh? That's a great goal!
Kennedy: Do you have a favorite book to read?
Mr. Beckerink: I love to read, so I have a lot of different books! Growing up, my favorite book series was probably Harry Potter. I loved Harry Potter growing up, which I know was your Halloween costume this year! Harry Potter, right?
Kennedy, nodding: I just read the [first] Harry Potter book!
Mr. Beckerink: What did you think?
Kennedy: I loved it.
Mr. Beckerink: Did you read all of them?
Kennedy: No, just the first one.
Mr. Beckerink: Okay, do you think you're going to read the second one?
Kennedy: Maybe! Because that one was so long. Took me forever!
Mr. Beckerink: Yeah, they are long! It's worth it, though. You should keep plugging away, and let me know what you think once you read the second one because they just get better! What was your favorite part about the first one?
Kennedy: My favorite part about the first one is how Harry defeated Voldemort as a baby, and I was like: “Well, that's how you know bad guys are weaker!”
Mr. Beckerink: The good guy prevails! Alright, you have to keep on reading, so we can keep on talking about it because I love the Harry Potter series. Did you watch the movie?
Kennedy: Yeah, all of them!
Mr. Beckerink: You watched all of them already?
Kennedy: Yeah, my favorite character is Dobby!
Mr. Beckerink: I think the books are better than the movies, Kennedy, so you have to keep on going with the books and see what you think!
Kennedy: What do you like to do outside school?
Mr. Beckerink: I like to read, I like to exercise, I like to play sports. Other than that, pretty much spend time with people. I have a lot of close friends in Columbus, and I live with several of my close friends. Then, through church, college, and other places, I have made a lot of other close friends and so pretty much just spending time together. I book my weekends and my evenings with time with other people. We'll do board game nights, have meals together, or just spend time together. What's your favorite board game?
Kennedy: My favorite board — like on-a-board — game would be chess. I love chess. If it's not on a board, I'll say Guessters. It's a new game. It's kind of like charades, but you're on a time limit. There's hard, easy, and medium. My team won by mostly doing the “hards,” which we mostly didn't get, but the “hards” get you more points.
Mr. Beckerink: Nice! We got a similar game for Christmas that was like charades, but with sounds. You have to have your hands behind your back, and you can act, but you also have to make sounds while you act. It’s very funny. It sounds similar to your Guessters game; it's got easy, medium, and hard levels, but you've got people just jumping around and making weird sounds. It's very entertaining. It's very fun.
You got one more [question] for me, Kennedy?
Kennedy: What are your goals for this year?
Mr. Beckerink: Good final question!
One of my biggest goals for this year has been focusing on positivity with my kids. And focusing on positive framing, which is something we've talked about a lot as a staff. As I'm giving instructions, giving reminders, teaching, or demonstrating something, focusing on the positive things that the kids are doing or the positive things we want them to do. Not just jumping straight to, “You're doing that wrong,” or “This is what you need to do differently,” but, “Hey, this is what you're doing well,” or “This is why we want to do this differently.” So, if I do need to give a correction, it's, “Hey, Kennedy, this is why we need to do this differently so that you can be successful in this way,” and point you towards that positive thing.
As well as, for me, reflecting on my teaching and thinking about, “This is what's going well,” “This is how I see kids growing” — focusing on those positive things is one of my big goals.
What's one of your goals for the fifth grade or heading into middle school, as you're getting closer to that?
Kennedy: So, I have two goals. I would like to make the honor roll at least once this year. I would also like to graduate and go to middle school, and I would love to go to college.
Mr. Beckerink: Yeah! Those are awesome goals. I love it!
The Huddle: If you could say anything to the people in our community who support United Schools and make things like Specials possible, what would you say?
Mr. Beckerink: I would say a big thank you! We have been blessed with a ton of great equipment over the last couple of years for P.E. class. That has provided scholars like Kennedy with so many different opportunities to try out different things and to be exposed to different things that I wouldn't be able to teach if we didn't have the equipment for it. So, those donations make a lot of things possible in P.E. class that wouldn't be possible without them, which I'm really thankful for.
The Huddle: What is something that you appreciate about one another?
Mr. Beckerink: I appreciate that Kennedy is always very friendly to all the people that she interacts with, and I appreciate that, whatever we do in P.E. class, Kennedy is often wanting to talk to me more about it after the class or the next day. Especially when we do, like, line dancing or anything like that; Kennedy gets so into it, and she'll come up to me at recess the next day and be like, “Mr. B.! Look, I remember the line dance moves! I've been practicing!” — and just loves showing off what she's been learning, so that is one of my favorite things about her, for sure.
Kennedy: [I appreciate that] he is active and always has a smile on his face!
Mr. Beckerink: Thank you, Kennedy!
Kennedy: And he's nice to the students, especially the people who don't listen and don't want to participate at all — he’ll just give them a second chance in the “Penalty Box” [a reset space in the gym created by Mr. Beckerink].
Mr. Beckerink: Thank you, Kennedy. I appreciate that.
Thank you again, Mr. Beckerink and Kennedy, for speaking with The Huddle and one another to showcase the shared interests, powerful positivity, and tangible enthusiasm of the staff and students thriving in our network.
Connection is a hallmark of United culture, and this is a glimpse into the dialogues that define our campuses.
