How I got here
I was born in Squamish and lived there until I was 6 years old. Both of my parents grew up in North Vancouver and they wanted to move back there. I very much enjoyed growing up on the North Shore as it offered a lot of opportunities to get outside and enjoy all that Vancouver has to offer. I very much enjoy getting outside whether it is to play sports, hike, camp, or enjoy the beach. The outdoors has always been a big part of my life and it has influenced who I have made friends with. I have a strong group of friends from my childhood that I have spent a lot of time playing sports and exploring the outdoors with. I loved growing up in Vancouver which was one of the reasons that I stayed to go to UBC for my BA and BEd. There I was very lucky to meet my wife who is completing her BEd as well. Teaching is definitely something that brought us together. I’m a huge sports fan as well; my teams are the Canucks (obviously) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (the picture below is of me at my first Steelers game). My family has always been into sports and I think that they are a great opportunity for learning.
Why I’m here
I have always wanted to be a teacher… well maybe that is not exactly true. My mom does like to remind me of a time when I wanted to be a monk, living out in the desert alone, but teacher has always been on the list and for the last ten years of my life it has been at the top. I was having dinner with my grandma last weekend and she told me that she studied to be a teacher before meeting and marrying my grandfather and raising my dad and his two siblings. I never knew this, but teaching seems to run in my blood, on both sides. My mom works in a high school as the Campus Ministry Coordinator and she used to be a Youth Ministry Coordinator before that. My sister is a teacher, my cousin, two aunts, and then my grandma. Teaching has always been a highly valued profession for my family and for me.
Of course, the value that was placed on teaching was only a part of why I wanted to become a teacher. I have always been curious as to why things are done a certain way (though this made me a frustrating student for some teachers) and I feel that teaching is a way to identify why people do things the way they do and either help others to understand this or help the person to understand why they are doing something that way. This is one of the reasons that I pursued a degree in History, because I loved looking at not only what had happened in history but also why it had happened. I strongly believe that this idea of perspective taking is a critical component to what makes a great teacher.
Where I hope to go
I mentioned that I was a frustrating student for some teachers because of my desire to know why I was doing things. This was only a problem with some of my teachers and looking back it was the teachers that were stagnant in their professional development who found me frustrating. My favorite teachers (and some of my biggest influences) were teachers that allowed me to be curious, ask questions, and try new things. As I enter my teaching career, I hope to emulate those teachers that encouraged the curiosity in me. I believe that this is one of the most important traits for a teacher to have. A good teacher allows students to make mistakes and a great teacher creates a classroom environment where mistakes are encouraged as teachable moments. This can only occur when the students know that it will be alright if they make mistakes. I had one teacher that stands out for me as an example of this attitude. He was also my soccer coach and when he left the school after I had graduated, he contacted me about taking on his role as one of the coaches of the senior boys’ soccer team. I had experience coaching an elementary basketball team while I was in high school; however, my experience with the soccer team was a large part of my journey to teaching.
