Transcription
Mr. Novick: start over?
Gabe: Yeah…
Mr. Novick: oki dookie…
Gabe: Who influenced you to become who you are today?
Mr. Novick: umm, I was primarily influenced by my parents and teachers, first by my parents because they in stilled a lot of values in me, took pretty good care of me, they showed me a lot of love. They were very patience with me…umm and without them I wouldn’t have been able to survive the "mess-ups" that I had…umm…one big thing that they gave me was patience, shut up Mohammad…another thing that inspired me was my teachers… but its was less the good teachers I had.. It was more the bad ones I had that inspired me.. I had a lot of bad teachers and they inspired me to become a good teacher, cause I was aware of what I was getting when I was in school… now I try really hard to give my students a better education than what I had..
Gabe: ok.. umm.. what was life for you as a high school student?
Mr. Novick: well… as I kinda eluded to earlier, high school presented itself as a waste of time to me, I can recall three or four good teachers accrues my four years of high school.. Umm… so... I spent a lot of my time trying to avoid school… umm.. I had a really really good friend named Mark Mceser…he and I are still best friends… and you know.. we spent a lot of time kinda ditching class… umm… pretty much it, man.
Gabe: uhh, so did you ever think you would become who you are today?
Mr. Novick: yeeaah.. I kinda planned on it… you know… I I had a couple of options as I was growing up.. and I was sure exactly how the “cards” were going to fall.. umm… something in me always knew that that teaching would be the winning perfection, the thing that would make me happy.
Gabe: so, when you were a small kid, what did you dream about becoming?
Mr. Novick: I really wanted to be a…uhh… like a fire fighter or a cop, or a soldier when I was seven years old. As I grew up I realized that I was to much of a wimp to do any of those things…
Gabe: alright, so what kind of neighborhood did you grow up in? And do you think that influenced you who you are today…
Mr. Novick: yeah, absolutely… I think the… The most important characteristic about my6 neighborhood and influenced that I am today was my neighborhood’s diversity, umm... I grew up pretty close to Northtown academy... On the north side... And my neighborhood uhh... I men just my block alone had people from all over the world on it... And it just kinda... Uhh I mean it made me... Like never understand the racism –I was like “but we all are neighbors…” as a little kid, umm. It was nice you know.. I played football with all the neighborhood kids…as I was growing up… my best friend when I was three years old... Probably seven... Or eleven or something like that… was this Hindu kid… it really never mattered… you know, that’s pretty much it..
Gabe: alright, so when you were in high school, did you set any goals, and do you think you accomplish them by now?
Mr. Novick: the only “goal” I... it was high school... I had short-term goals... And I accomplished them.. you know.. I got through the day today.. the long.. in the back of my head was the goal of going to college.. and even though I didn’t work hard enough at it.. like fully.. I made it in… umm. And then when I was in collage I developed the goal of become a high school teacher.. and yeah.. Totally made it.
Gabe: ok so.. are you proud of what you do today..
Mr. Novick: I am proud of what I do.. but I’m constantly telling myself that I need to be better.. like I wanna be more proud of myself and I know that’s only gonna come from me.. Umm… so I gonna put the pedal to the metal. To become a better teacher..
Gabe: so.. since you became a teacher.. do you think you changed the life for any students?
Mr. Novick: I mean.. I am not sure if I changed lives for better or worse… but given the fact that I’ve spent time with people.. I know that their lives were changed… umm I can think of a handful of specific students that I’m pretty sure their lives would have had gonna differently. By the way I’ve influence them the way that I have… umm.. but, you know at the same time,… I working with a great group of students. I think of them as smart and powerful. With or without me..
Gabe: alright.. so if you could go back the high school and tell or ask yourself one thing.. what would it be?
Mr. Novick: I would ask myself why are you being such an idiot.. umm… and to get over whatever drama your facing. And just focus on what really matters... Umm. I guess I would uhh... are you paying attention?
Gabe: …yeah..
Mr. Novick: ok so yeah... Uhh wow, I mean I guess I would ask myself why you’re being too dumb... And I would tell myself to stop being to dumb…