For this project, I chose to interview my high school music teacher, Jeffrey Newberry from Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts. There are many ways that he has been an influential teacher in my life. From the beginning of grade 9, he saw great potential in me and along with all his students, and he did his very best to bring that out in us. You could tell he cared more and was invested differently than other teachers. He would stay to have conversations with us before and after class, he would continuously ask us how we’re doing in our other subjects to make sure we were on the right track. If we were not, he’d find ways to problem solve to ensure that we were doing well in our other subjects too. On top of all that, his number one priority was that we were taking care of ourselves and making sure that we were always on the right path.
My first question while interviewing Mr. Newberry was, how his character or state might have changed throughout his time being a teacher. He responded by saying that through teaching and encountering various types of teenagers with different backgrounds, his beliefs and values were strengthened when he saw the need for students to be led on the right path and cared about that more so than caring about a mark. He also realized that not every child was going to like or agree with him. He had preconceived ideas that everything would go perfectly but that wasn’t realistic. In order to teach some of his values which include honoring your true self and self-respect, from that you can then do the same unto others. He wasn’t exactly modelling that for his students by expecting them buy into everything he said. He had to then do the right thing by modelling and teaching to the best of his abilities regardless of if every single student bought into it.
Noticing that he used the term “right choice” I asked what constitutes as the right choice. He responded by saying that it comes down knowing oneself and being self-aware in order to help the child. Another aspect he brought up was just being responsive and doing the right things for the child that will better serve them rather than serving the system in place. He also knows that there are many circumstances that come with each child, some being better than others. Mr. Newberry is someone who feels that making connections with students, where they can trust him is important. He invests his time to getting to know the students and that is when sometimes it can become difficult. The student's emotions and stories can take a toll on him, because it isn’t a job where he just leaves at the end of the day and that is that. A lot of the circumstances are extremely challenging and unfair. It affects him even when he goes home and still thinks about these students. He must learn how to boundary and be effective so that he can still have a life that is sustainable and take care of himself.
Afterward we conversed about the system and it isn’t really made to serve the children. It’s about money and unions and it is quite unfortunate how children aren’t really considered in any decisions made. No matter the different circumstances everyone is given the same and treated the same which isn’t right. Examples of this are the different specialized schools such as Wexford and the individuals who attend these schools are all different but are given the same resources such as money and set curriculum, which can be difficult. The only to go about such a rigid system is to use when it is of use to you and otherwise try to find ways to work around it.
Moving to earlier in his life, we spoke about his journey to becoming a teacher. Interestingly but not surprising he didn’t want to be a teacher from the beginning. Into his high school years is when he knew wanted to pursue music but not necessarily the education stream. He wanted to be a famous opera singer but then moved towards conducting and coaching. His pivotal moment was when he was asked to musical direct a high school production, it was around the same he started as a guest artist at Wexford Collegiate. He says it was extremely eye opening and is what pushed him to go to teacher's college.
The first school he taught at was Bloor Collegiate and this was a science and math focused school, so it was hard going in as a music teacher. It was quite the challenge to sell arts classes to students who weren’t used to it but that didn’t stop him. He would go out during sports games and try to grab students to come try singing or acting. Eventually, they’d enjoy it and their friends would come too. Seeing these teenagers get passionate about something other than sports or the sciences was a great reward being a teacher at that school. He then moved to Wexford which already had a strong foundation in the arts.
We then spoke about the rewards that he found in teaching. One of them is being able to get through to students who can be challenging, easily. He loves having the challenge of a student who wouldn’t typically buy into anyone. Getting on the same page and being able to communicate with them is something that not all teachers can say they can do. He values more being able to make connections with students and within that comes a huge reward. However, learning the curriculum is also important because one cannot happen without the other. Which is what a lot of teachers need to learn. When making these boundaries with children it is imperative that they are clear, so there can also be mutual respect. He finds that putting all the energy into making these individual connections are worth it because once the students realize and trust that he cares, they start to care more about the work they are doing.
Some of Mr. Newberry’s weaknesses were wanting the students to like him and caring too much if they were buying into him and what he was teaching. Throughout his years teaching, he realized that teaching wasn’t going to be every classroom as one big happy family. At the end of his first year of teaching, he led an activity called, “Start, Stop and Continue” where students tell him what they’d like him to start doing, stop doing and continue doing. He said it was a disaster because of how brutally honest they were. Another weakness he found was not have multiple approaches to teaching something, but by his 3rd year he had been able to start teaching in different ways. Another weakness he still has is organization, but he continues to work on it.
My last question was if he could go back would he want anything to have been different. He answered by saying yes and no. Yes because, he wishes that the lessons he learned came faster or would’ve been easier. No because, if he didn’t teach at a school where the arts were not a main priority, he wouldn’t have the frame of reference to teach us at Wexford how in the outside world, other schools don’t have what we have that being, the abundant resources and opportunities within the arts.
Overall, I learned a lot about the type of the teacher I want to be, that being one that serves the children versus the system.