Students consistently look forward to their Economics class where they can see the newest face at the high school, Daane Harvey–a fun, charismatic, and very passionate student teacher who has been a positive influence on students.
Harvey is a 22-year old college student who joined the high school staff the week after Winter Break. Harvey attends Calvin University where he is in his fourth year pursuing his degree in Social Studies education, and he quickly jumped on the opportunity to student teach under Economics teacher Robert Nowak as well as US history teacher Nate Lisenbee.
Harvey spends a lot of his time in recent years figuring out what he wants to do after college. After careful consideration, he ultimately decided to pursue his degree in education.
“Both of my parents worked in education, so I’ve been around it for a while,” Harvey said. “I really enjoy being with kids and I love history. So being around kids and then being able to teach history is the big goal of mine.”
Harvey went to Forest Hills Eastern High School, where he played basketball, football, baseball and one year of lacrosse his senior year. Despite his origins, he discovered Northview after being familiar with the high school principal Mark Thomas from family connections. He quickly accepted an opportunity to get teaching experience first-hand at a school he was familiar with.
“Part of the process of getting your education degree is that you have to student-teach,” Harvey said. “So I contacted [Mark Thomas], and he said he would love to have me, [then he] set me up with Mr. Nowak and it’s been a blast so far.”
Harvey is still seen playing basketball for Calvin, where he really enjoys the team and the community around him.
“Basketball is one of my favorite things to do outside of school,” Harvey said. “I really enjoy the team and the community we’ve been able to build together. They always push me to be better and it has been an overall great experience.”
A part of student-teaching is working under an experienced teacher. Harvey got to learn from and bond with Nowak while being in his classroom, fostering a positive relationship. Nowak has learned much about Harvey through the experience as well.
“He’s a very nice guy, and definitely somebody who has a commitment to helping young people become better as individuals,” Nowak said. “He’s someone who values relationships and is overall a super positive guy, and someone who is a good coworker.”
Nowak has had many conversations with Harvey about what it truly means to be a teacher and a lot of essentials to the “art” of teaching.
“A lot of what I’ve taught him is operational work with kids,” Nowak said. “For example, ‘what is a good way to transition between things,’ ‘what is a good way to go about reviewing material,’ but also the ropes about being a teacher beyond just the instructional practices–so grading, philosophies to grading, parent-teacher conferences and things like that.”
In class, Harvey and Nowak often teach together and cooperate with the lesson and notes of the day. Due to this cooperation, Nowak has experienced first-hand the way students interact with teachers of other generations.
“The kids kind of get a little bit of enjoyment from having younger teachers,” Nowak said. “It brings a little more relevance in the classroom, which is opposed to me, who is probably about 20 years older than them [the students]. I think that they see him as a cooler, younger guy who is funnier to joke around with–which is challenging sometimes. But [Harvey] does a good job with managing how those relationships work.”
Though it may be difficult to teach students closer to you in age, Harvey absolutely enjoys the way the kids interact with him.
“The kids are coming up and talking to me, and I’ve been to a couple sporting events as well,” Harvey said. “The students are extending their extracurriculars out and wanting me to come to them, so they’re showing their appreciation towards me. It’s great that they’re wanting me at these events so they can see me outside of the classroom, and we can enjoy that time together.”
During class, students will often tease Harvey and make jokes with him, something that makes the environment in the class more enjoyable for many kids. Junior Bhupinder Singh relates to this.
“I really enjoy Mr. Harvey,” Singh said. “We always joke with him and it feels like he really likes his job when he’s up there teaching.”
Harvey is appreciative of the welcoming community and the opportunity to talk with new people and interact with students.
“I love meeting new people, so if anyone wants to stop by and have a conversation, I would love to talk to them,” Harvey said. “I just like to make new friends and meet new people. So anytime anyone wants to talk, they can come down and hang out with me and Mr. Nowak.”
Leave a Reply