The Bay of Plenty Times arrives in the school gym as Mr McEvoy is leading a Year 9 class through a series of warmups.
Two senior students have offered to help out for the period and Mr McEvoy asks the class to tell the seniors what they have been learning.
"Social responsibility," one yells out.
In sports, a person with a level zero of social responsibility ruins the game for others, Mr McEvoy explains. A person with level three, the highest level, thinks about caring for others and helping out.
To demonstrate, Mr McEvoy gets the students involved in a game. The class is split in two and each gets a large gym mat. Three students at a time must run up to the mat and dive on it, pushing it towards the wall. Each student must run and dive at least once, when the mat hits the wall, the three students must carry it back to starting position and the group sits on the mat.
The students begin. About halfway through, the lesson becomes clear. Team work and communication are needed for the students to run and hit the mats at the same time, otherwise it goes off course.
Some of the students have also taken over the runs while others watch from the sidelines.
"What do I like about teaching? Every day is different. Every day is a challenge, it's always evolving" Mr McEvoy said.
"If you think you have perfected teaching, you shouldn't be teaching any more."
Putting the students at the centre of everything a teacher does is the core of the job, he said.
"It's about finding new ways to help these guys become 21st century learners. You're predicted to go through two, three, four different careers now. You've got to teach them to be better learners."
Sonya Bateson
