TEACHER'S CORNER: EVANS USES PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING TO COACH ESTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

BENTON -- Rhonda Evans, a math teacher at Kelly High School, uses many of the principles she teaches students in her algebra, geometry and trigonometry classes when coaching extracurricular activities. Evans, who is in her fifth year at Kelly, also coaches cheerleading and the softball team. She has also coached the Sikeston Swim Team for the past eight seasons.

"My goal as a teacher and a coach is learning, not entertainment, but if learning is entertaining and relevant, everyone is a winner," she said.

Evans said students have become "sophisticated learners" over the years and now receive information from countless sources. Teachers must compete with those sources if they want to get their points across to their students, she said.

"In turn-of-the-century classrooms, students were exposed to strange and foreign lands and adventures through books," she said. "Today, those strange and foreign lands are as close as a television or computer."

Evans said she reaches her students by incorporating items from their lives into learning activities. Math problems can become much more meaningful and interesting with the simple inclusion of a local advertisement or interclass miniature car race, she said.

"Students are no longer satisfied with knowledge-based learning but demand to know how knowledge applies to their lives and their world," she said. "As teachers, we have to meet those demands."

Evans resides in rural Scott County and is married to businessman Joel Evans. She spends her summer vacations giving swimming lessons.