By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Coaches in the Classroom feature is a weekly series that spotlights and celebrates coaches throughout Portage County, who spend their days in the classrooms and hallways leading today’s student-athletes to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Today’s spotlight is on Rootstown High School girls flag football coach Alexis Ayers, who is a high school technology and weight lifting teacher at Rootstown.

• Hometown: Akron, Ohio.
  

  ALEXIS AYERS

• School District: Rootstown Local Schools.
• How long have you taught there: 10 years.
• Classes taught: I student taught and longterm subbed in 2nd Grade, then moved between 4th and 5th Grade Math. Now I am at the high school teaching Technology and Weight Lifting.
• What made you want to become an educator?: I worked with kids teaching competitive dance throughout high school and college. I really enjoyed doing that, so I thought teaching would be a good fit.
• What is your favorite part of your job?: Right now, I really enjoy that most of my high-school kids had me as a teacher when they were in elementary school — so it’s been fun seeing them grow up into young adults.
• What have you learned about being an educator that you didn’t know before you started?: So much of your personal time and money goes into making your classroom and your lessons work for kids.
• Which teachers influenced you to go into education?: I had a Chemistry teacher in high school who was a huge influence on me. I was AWFUL at Chemistry (my younger brother tutored me to get through), but she didn’t make me feel inadequate for not getting it. She was super encouraging and always found other common ground with me. She had a really good balance between having high expectations for us, while still relating to us on a level that was good for high schoolers.
• How do you apply some of your coaching to the classroom?: This is actually my first year coaching, so I don’t really have a lot of experience being both a coach and a teacher.
• How do you apply some of your classroom to your coaching?: I think a lot can translate from the classroom to coaching. I think getting “buy-in” is super important — especially with this being the first year of the program. I want the girls to want to play again next year, so building relationships while still helping them learn and improve is big.
• Funniest thing that has ever happened to you in a classroom?: Last year, I was working on the yearbook with my editors, and my tall rolling chair fell out from under me, and my whole desk with everything on it (desktop, lamp, pens, etc.) tipped and fell on me because I tried to grab it to stop myself from falling. My kids still remind me of that day… frequently!
• Mentors in your building who have helped you along the way?: I’ve worked with a lot of awesome people along the way in Rootstown. In the elementary school, Alison Cone, Angela Stackpole, Christy Duvall and Cody Apthorpe were amazing people to work with. I was still a very new teacher when I worked with each of them, so they really helped me figure things out. Now that I’m in the high school, I look up to Margaret Barzellato. She has such high expectations for kids; she is always willing to try something new, and the kids really respect her as a great teacher. I also have a ton of respect for Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Berg! They have taught me so much from the admin side of things, and they are just overall great people to work with!