Who are you and what do you teach?
My name is Mr. Bates and this semester I am teaching us history and speech and debate. I’m
also the program coordinator for Extended Day on Thursday nights.
How long have you been teaching?
This is my eighth year here at Lee Pollard High School.
Have you taught at any other schools?
I used to teach at Waite Middle School which is in Norwalk, long time ago. That’s where I
started my career. And that is where I started as a teacher, teaching eighth grade. Now I
teach here, I love teaching at Lee Pollard High School. I also teach on occasion at Devry
University, teaching some college classes.
How has your teaching changed from when you were a new teacher?
Well I know a lot of students don’t like me because I’m sometimes hard and ?rm but I used to
be really, really mean when I taught eight grade and I think I lightened up a little bit because I
realized that’s really no way to in?uence students. So I try to be very ?rm but very fair and I
think that’s different then how I used to be. I used to be just mean and that wasn’t any way to
in?uence kids so I think I changed a little bit in that.
If you weren’t a teacher what would you be?
If I wasn’t a teacher I would love to be a forest ranger or maybe a professional musician. I
used to sing when I was young. I would also consider archeology or museum work that sort
of thing.
What do you do when you are not teaching or grading?
When I’m not working I hang out with my smoking hot wife and my cool kids. I got three great
kids and a beautiful wife at home. I’ll spend a lot of time running. I also spend a lot of time in
the mountains training. I like to go to church, I like to read. I have a lot of things I enjoy doing.
If you could have lunch with any one in history who would it be and why?
Probably Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt would be someone I would be really interested in
spending time with. He was the president the beginning of the 1900s. He was a remarkable,
remarkable man.
What is your favorite movie?
Probably either Braveheart or Dances with Wolves, I started watching Dances with Wolves
over the weekend with my kids and they loved it even though it was a three hour movie.
What is your favorite book?
Well I like the Bible, I try to read the Bible as often as I can. I also read a book years ago
called, “Something of value” which was a really good novel about Africa in the 1950s. I really
enjoyed that book. There’s a lot of books, I love to read I like to read biography a lot which are
the stories about peoples life .so I can’t really tell you what my favorite book is but I have a lot
of books that I enjoy.
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