From watching his gym teacher in grade school to now being the department head for Parkway North’s Physical Education department, John Sheridan’s journey has been focused on one thing, 

Teachers hold a high status in a student’s mind, but not many would think that influence from a teacher would lead to a 26-year-long career. That’s just why Physical Education department head, John Sheridan, began teaching full-time in 2000. 

“When I was in sixth grade, my [physical education] teacher was my favorite teacher, Mr. Swanson, and so I wanted to be like him. And, I also wanted to coach basketball and keep playing, and at that time, you had to teach to coach, so it was just the best move for me to make,” Sheridan said. 

After graduating in 1994, having student-taught in a third-grade classroom, spending one year at Glen Ridge Elementary, two years at Bellerive Elementary in Parkway, and three years at Central Middle, Sheridan has been working for North for 20 years while simultaneously coaching many Parkway athletic teams.

Having taught all levels of students in his career, there are many differences between not just the students but also the schedules and responsibilities as a teacher. Working in elementary schools, before Parkway mandated teachers getting planning periods, teachers only had a 30-minute lunch break as their only break during the day. 

“Elementary school’s exhausting. [I] tied a lot of shoes. But the kids all wanted to be there, and you didn’t have to encourage kids to play… A lot of times, you were the kids’ favorite part of their day, which was cool, but it was also exhausting…  I would come out of there at 4:30 in the afternoon just exhausted from my first couple of years,” Sheridan said. 

But, with the move to North, Sheridan was back to being in the classroom, teaching mainly Health classes for his first year, with a few freshmen P.E. classes. 

“When I first started, we had an overhead projector with the clear paper, and you wrote on it with activity booklets, so now everything’s on the Chromebook,” Sheridan said. 

But, after a bit of restructuring, Sheridan got to teach all of the Competitive Sports and Games classes, with only a few health classes and a freshman P.E. class.

“With just a few exceptions, I’m the only one that teaches the [Competitive Sports and Games] class. I like how I have it set up. I’m very consistent with it, so it runs smooth, so I really enjoy that one. But over the last three or four years… I took over the Lifetime Sports class. And I really enjoy that class now, I think, because I’ve got it set up how I like. It’s pickleball, badminton, disc golf. All these lifelong activities that I enjoy participating in,” Sheridan said. 

Now, Sheridan is the department head of North’s physical education department, juggling many different responsibilities, like budgeting, replacing equipment, and placing teachers’ classes.

“One of the big things is trying to put the best teachers with the best curriculum. Like, I would be a terrible Strength and Conditioning teacher. Coach Katz is really, really good. He basically developed that whole curriculum, so he’s by far the best one to teach that class out of all of us.… Miss Chambers does a really good job with the freshmen, and that’s great. I want no part of the freshman… I think I’m best suited for Competitive [Sports and Games] because I kind of built that curriculum and schedule,” Sheridan said. 

Another one of the department lead’s responsibilities is the leadership role within the school. Once a month, all the department leaders meet after school to discuss school-wide issues and department goals. 

“When I took over, my biggest thing was, I wanted to make sure [physical education] had a voice in those meetings, because I’ve sat through them, and a lot of times the issues are not related to our [department], but we should be able to have a voice in it, because all the kids that come to North have to go through our PE program. So that’s a huge part of that role in being a department lead,” Sheridan said. 

Being in these leadership roles, Sheridan has witnessed many changes at North. One of the biggest? The technology. 

“When I first started teaching, I took attendance on these cards. They were this long cardstock [that was] cut up, and it had every day the class met already written on it. And then, you did the grade all by hand… I literally had a calculator I used just for grading. Now, it’s all instant and automatic. A kid doesn’t dress out, [they get a]  zero, and I put it in Infinite Campus. The parents can immediately see it, and they get an alert, whereas before I had to actually call parents. So I’m glad I don’t have to do any of that anymore,” Sheridan said. 

But even with those benefits, there have still been some real setbacks, one of which was the pandemic in 2020.

“I think that the [pandemic] really set back a lot of kids, the isolation, being very dependent upon electronics. And so kids don’t know how to have a conversation. Kids don’t know how to engage in a two-way talk because they didn’t have to with [online] school… One of the reasons I went into teaching is the interaction with the kids, and Covid was terrible for me because there was no interaction,” Sheridan said.

The ripple effect from the pandemic and electronics has yet to subside, and has impacted how classrooms operate and how teachers have to approach it.

“Kids don’t like pens and paper, I think. Right now I struggle with [lecturing]. I like to talk. I’m not one that’s going to just give a ton of assignments and have [students] sit in silence and do them. And I think a lot of curriculum has shifted to that, and so kids are more used to that. So, I think one of the biggest struggles I have is that as soon as some kids are disengaged from their electronics… they just go to sleep, and they want to go to sleep. Then [I have to] wake them up, you chat, you keep trying. You gotta redirect them. And that’s a frustrating thing for me, because I know that when I was in school, there was no way you’re going to fall asleep in class. It’s a little bit different,” Sheridan said. 

But, even through waking up sleeping students, the long hours as an elementary school teacher, sitting in staff meetings, coaching on the court for Parkway’s athletic department, and the immeasurable time spent on the phone trying to order kickballs, it was all worth it to coach Sheridan. 

“I went to the [Cardinals] ball game yesterday, and guys that I coached and taught 30 years ago made sure they found me and said hi to me at the ball game. So I think that the relationships [have been the best thing I’ve gotten]. Coach Katz [is] one of my best friends. He was a player when I started coaching here. And then, currently, I enjoy our relationship. I think that would be the thing I miss most when I leave. I’ll just appreciate the relationships that I was able to make,” Sheridan said.