How would you describe your job? I teach sixth-,seventh- and eighth-graders health and physical education. I get to deal with 100-and-some wonderful 10-, 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds every day.

(ENLARGE)

Denny Chalk, age 37 Maple Teacher & Coach Currituck County Schools (Currituck Middle teacher; Currituck High coach), 13 years

Has your job been affected by changes in technology or other changes? Since I've started, just my health class alone, we obviously use computers a lot more. For example, I'm doing a nutrition lesson now. I'm using an overhead projector that is hooked into a laptop. I can put things on the laptop and work with the class. Definitely, technology has changed my job tremendously since I started 13 years ago. Coaching (baseball and cross country) has definitely changed a lot, too. Technology as far as bats and things have improved.

Besides salary, what benefits do you derive from your work? I get to be a role model, teacher, mom, dad, friend. To me, this is not a job, it's kind of like a responsibility. I have not woken up one day in 13 years of teaching and said 'God, I hate my job' or 'I don't want to work today.'

What are the long-term or indirect benefits of your job? The fact that I get to see kids go from starting out with me at the middle school (move on).

How do you see your job benefiting the larger community? What I'm doing is setting the groundwork for what these kids are going to do the rest of their lives. Teaching is the most important part of my job.

— Thom Chalfan