All+About+Mr.+Stephens

===It is hard to believe that I am in my twenty-third year of teaching in the Northview Public Schools. During that time I have taught 2nd, 3rd, and 6th grades and will now be embarking on teaching me first year in P.E. The relationships with students, staff, and families that I have made over these years continues to make each year an exciting adventure, never knowing what event will create a lifelong memory or inspiration in each of us.=== ===I started working with children as a baseball, softball, and hockey coach in the Parks and Recreation Department in Trenton, Michigan, riding my ten speed across town to a community park as I still did not have a driver's license. Those were hot, rewarding summers that started an interest and skill set for developing skills, motivating, and communicating with young people. These were natural extensions of my own participation in baseball and hockey, though any competitive context in ping-pong, pool, tennis, golf, basketball, or fishing seemed to motivate me.=== ===I attended Lake Superior State University and obtained my degree in Marketing, met the future Mrs. Stephens, and was a member of a Lake Superior State hockey team that made great gains toward national recognition. Within two years of graduating I was back at school obtaining my teaching credentials, pursuing a passion that had grown from those early coaching years in Trenton.=== ===My wife and I have two children, both attending college at this time. I am still coaching hockey with the Northview Varisty team, but added running, golf, and snowshoeing to my annual routines. Birding, working in our yard, and most things connected to nature also interest me. I truly enjoy sharing each of these experiences with my students and motivating them to find and share their own unique interests, talents, and passions.=== ===During my years of teaching it has been my goal to recognize, foster, and celebrate these unique qualities in students. Athletic and inter-personal skills worked for me, always providing a foundation and confidence level for me to carry over to other challenging areas in my life. I have watched many students start down this same path, but demonstrating and developing musical, artistic, language, mathematical, scientific, and intra-personal skills. It is through building relationships that this process of discovery begins. I have always been excited about being a part of it.===