Pat's History
Grad School and Student-Teaching Year (1968-1969)
When I started on my teaching credential it was a week after I graduated. I started in summer school. The state required education classes were not very impressive but still a requirement. I remember one class in educational methods I had to write an emergency lesson plan for both my major and minor areas. That project would go on to save me serveral time in my teaching career. The other ed class I liked was education psychology. I had a lady from india who had two PhD's. She had that great accent and spoke simply and plainly. Most of the rest of the class I could see didn't get her, but I did. On the last day of class she left us a gift. A piece of advice that I have used many times in my life. She said when you travel through life travel as the honey bee and not the fly. A fly would only go to where the garbage is while the honey bee is always going to beautiful things like flowers and always working. She continued speaking, "Even if you come to my country there is ugly things, but we have beautiful things also like temples and gardens. So as you go through life, travel as the honey bee and not the fly." Most of the class missed the metaphor but I got it. Of course anytime I got negative about something, I always remember my son Jeff saying to me," sounds like you being the fly instead of the honey bee." Anyway a good philosophy to live by. When school had started we took on the freshman team. (Click here for Freshman Team story) It was a great team with lots of talent. We almost went undefeated but lost to Saddleback Junior College on the last game in the closing seconds. They had both freshmen and sophomores. The volleyball class went well. I was very good at playing volleyball and the students were impressed with my skills and teaching abilities. I took some science classes so I would get a biology minor to be able to teach science in high school. Relying on only a PE degree was tough to get a PE teaching job in those days. Today it's nearly impossible. I did my student teaching at Huntington Beach High School under the tutoring of Don Walker for PE and Ken Stobes for Biology. Both great teachers. The science took a bit of work but I found I could handle it. I do remember most of the students in class were either juniors or seniors. I even had a couple of 18 year old fifth year senior girls who flirted with me a lot. Remember I was a student teacher and a married man. I was only a couple of years older than them. It had its challenges. Over all the class went well and Mr. Stobes was impress with a jock knowing as much about science as I did. He later was my department head the next year when we opened up Edison High School. The PE side was great with Coach Walker too. We would go to the varsity football games and watch the department chair/supervizing teacher from Long Beach State (Mr. Pestolesi) son play. He was really good and I went to all the coaches parties and got to make lots of connections. Politics are important in all professions I learned. I remember I finally had medical insurance. I had paid cash for all three of my children and then I get coverage. When that fall semester was over I started substitute teaching in the Huntington and Newport school districts. I was called three days a week and attended classes on Tuesday and Thursday at LB State. I met a lot of people in all the schools I taught in. They like PE teachers as we could handle the discipline of high school students better than academic teachers. Regardless of the class. The fact that I could do a plethera of science classes helped. If fact Fountain Valley high school liked me so much they offered me a jog under the emergency credential rule. I decided to turn it down because I wanted to make sure I got my California State Teaching Credential. They're a lot of great stories from being a sub but that's another story somewhere. Towards the end of the year I had not been offered a job yet. I was hoping I could stay in the Huntington District but I was getting nervous. We were tired of being poor and working and going to school so much. Anyway Coach Reed had told me about being good friends with the superintendant of the Huntington Beach School District and said he'd put in a good word for me. I thought he had done that for me. I finally went in to see superintendent in late May of 1969. (Superintendant story) I did finally get a job at the brand new Edison High School. In the next weeks I went and spoke to Bill Vail the head football coach, Jim Stobes the new department chair of sciences, and John Meyers the PE department chair. All individuals were pleased that I got hired but Mr. Meyers. He asked, "who the hell are you? You were no where on the radar and this week I get told you hired. I didn't even interview you. As time went on we became great friends especially since he was also the head track coach and needed a polevault coach, but that's another story (polevault story). Anyway I had a new job and a new son. Jeffrey Lee Pohl was born on June 3rd, 1969. As I held him in my arms I was so proud to have a son and said to myself, "I'm really going to have to be a grown up now." I immediately took my feet off of the coffee table in front of me without my wife yelling at me first. How's that for growing up quick again. That summer I started working on my Masters Degree. Hey what the heck. I was in the routine of working, going to school, and now teaching. By the way I had to work two more years at the liquor store. Beginning teacher don't make that much money and more importantly we sold milk, eggs, butter, bread and all sorts of other things at the store. If you get my meaning. Plus medical coverage finally. The next and new generation of Coach Pohl was entering the arena of high school coaching. Here come the Edison Years.