It’s elementary, my dear Watson …

I have spent 29 years teaching with the bulk of those years at the secondary level. I firmly believe that I was a better teacher in those later years because I spent the first 7 years in a variety of grades at the elementary level. IMHO, it gave me a better understanding of the ways that students learn, especially when they struggle. It allowed me to competently teach a wide variety of high school subjects. As one of my principals, Russ Atkinson, said to me, “I know I can give you almost anything with faith that you won’t (mess) it up.” I have a special place in my heart for Russ!

As previously written, I back-doored my way into York University’s Teacher’s College back in 1989 specializing in Primary-Junior. TBH, I thought that teaching primary was a pretty cool idea and at that time, my coaching-self felt that elementary school athletics was a great choice. I reasoned that I could give younger athletes a head start so that they could go on to bigger and better athletic things.

I’ve already told you about the interesting first interview … My recollection of it is that we spent quite a lot of time catching up and laying out a plan of how I could assist with extracurriculars. I’m sure we talked about competency, but I really don’t remember much about that. I was hired by the SCDSB to teach at Maple Grove PS under the guidance of Harry Hughes. I didn’t know it at the time, but Harry would be VERY influential in shaping my early thoughts about teaching … I had (and have) a HUGE amount of respect for him. I was given a Gr 2/3 split and I was in heaven! I was surrounded by colleagues that were quick to offer advice or assistance … Arden Grant, Judy Mansfield, Lesley Sova … and I stumbled my way through the year.

I was a young ex-football player with a buzz-cut, a big ego and loads of love in my heart. I quickly became a source of gossip … Not due to my teaching, mind you … because I wrecked 2 pairs of slacks in the first month. That’s an odd reason but here’s how that works … If you’ve ever been in a primary classroom, you will know that there’s a lot of crafty stuff happening. It turned out that 7-year-olds don’t know that they have paint all over their hands when they reach out to tug on the pant-leg of their teacher. How does a Queen’s University ex-varsity athlete deal with that, you may ponder?  I purchased 4 pairs of ZUBU pants! Only a few of you will remember them but, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

You know I can hear you giggling, right? Hind-sight is 20/20, so they say … I really was a NEWB!

It was during this year that a reporter from the Barrie Examiner named Marg Bruneman (likely spelt wrong) came to interview me for an opinion piece about getting more male teachers in the primary grades. I can only imagine what thoughts ran through her minds sitting beside this young man, military hairdo, resplendent in those god-awful pants. Anyway, the article would turn out to be ironic since, from that year forward, I was moved up the grade chain, with the reasoning that they wanted a “strong male influence” with the older students. Maybe they were just sparing my feelings? Maybe I wasn’t cut out for primary? You’d have to ask those families … I thought I did a good job!?!

That year at Maple Grove introduced me to a number of incredible young men and women through the times we shared in athletics. I am pretty sure I coached a host of teams … VB, BB, FB, TnF, SB … often occupying both my lunch and after school hours. I’m pretty sure that I rarely made it home to Joyce before 6:00 pm. Some of those athletes ended up having some impressive secondary and post-secondary careers and I am blessed that a few have reached out to stay in touch over the years, taught with some and I’ve even coached against some of their kids! If I tried to list them all, I’d forget someone and then feel badly so, as a blanket statement, I’d love to say a MASSIVE thank you to them all! The only drawback was that I sent them along all primed and ready to compete for North and not my beloved BCC!

Student populations often fluctuate, and this leads to some teacher movement if you’re in your first or second year of contract. I was “traded” to Portage View for my second year and was assigned life in a “cottage” … I had a Gr 5/6 split in a portable! What was initially a disappointment quickly turned out to be a HUGE stroke of luck! My “cottage” was beside the one being occupied by Don Montgomery, a “wily old vet” who immediately took me under his wing as we leaned on the railing of the “deck” on our “cottages” and talked about education and kids. I am deeply indebted to Don for his friendship, mentorship and compassion. 
SIDENOTE: As an elder in his church, he gifted us with two beautiful books as each of our children were born that I still cherish to this day. I’m going to make a public promise to look Don up and treat him and his wife to a dinner, just to relive those great days! He was (and is) a great human being! There were a lot of great role models during those PVPS days … I’ll likely hurt someone’s feelings by forgetting them but people like Andrew Lindsay, Tom Stockdale, Terry Martin, John Brundage, Kim Campbell, and Cherin Harris really helped guide me during those PVPS years..

It was during those PVPS days that I formed some long-lasting friendships with some pretty incredible kids! Still coaching a host of sports, I was finding my way through the development of my personal coaching philosophy and, true to my nature, that meant we were “hunting for Cups”! PVPS was chock full of great athletes and those teams had their fair share of success in Simcoe County play but one of the most memorable experiences was winning the Simcoe County Basketball Championship in 1994. It was a team affair, but every team has a leader. Ours was Joe Santoro, a 5’11” hoops junkie with PG skills. He was surrounded by other great athletes, but Joe was center piece. We enjoyed a good lead up to the playoffs and found ourselves at West Bayfield for the area championships against Prince of Wales. POW was loaded with their own long list of tremendous athletes, many of which would become very good friends in later years when we all found ourselves together at Barrie Central. The game went back and forth with some really entertaining play and I distinctly remember thinking, “Yep, I made a good choice becoming a teacher!” Any great battle is fraught with controversy and this one was no exception. POW was hit with some foul trouble which directly influenced the outcome but, in the end, PVPS had its first chance at a Simcoe County title which would be held at Eastview the following week. All of the stars seemed to be aligning as we enjoyed a really good week of practice and, on the night before the championships I felt pretty upbeat. “NO, NO, NO!” said the powers that be, when Joe told me that one of our better athletes had decided that he “wasn’t feeling the tourney”. What? Well, some teeth gnashing aside, his team mates convinced him to come and the rest took care of itself. Joe was spectacular but I remember all of them playing their hearts out, finishing with the championship, birthing what would be a never-ending stream of PVPS Glory Days chirps.

Eventually, those student fluctuations sent me back to Maple Grove. I was affectionately coined “Ping Pong Porter” by my colleagues because as June rolled onward, there was a new list every 2 or 3 days that listed where each moving teacher would be going. My memory was that I was in slotted for 23 different placements before all of the dust settled. In the end it was Maple Grove for a 5/6 split team-teaching with Elanor Bro in a class with a number of IEP’d students. It was really fun working with Elanor, and I learned A LOT about Spec Ed that year. I was once again gifted a host of teams to coach which, naturally, was not a problem but the one team that stands out for me was the Int Boys Basketball team in 1998. There was a teacher at MG at that time named Bob Burns … GREAT guy and good friend … and he brought his son Nick came to MG for his Gr 8 year. Nick was a great person and a great athlete who was already bigger than either of his parents at 13 years old. He would be the cornerstone of a team that would end up losing to powerhouse program Codrington (with another host of players I would eventually coach with and against when I arrived at Central) in the Simcoe County Championship semifinals before beating Marchmount PS for MG’s first Basketball banner as bronze medallists. 
SIDENOTE: Nick and I struck up a lasting friendship and I proudly watched him enjoy an outstanding high school experience at Eastview then on to a CIS and pro career in Football. He’s a teacher with SCDSB now … And a pretty darn good one I hear!

As those elementary years rolled along, I was once again moved up the grade chain, inheriting Gr 7/8 splits, and despite the great mix of students that came and went, I could tell that a career in Gr 8 was being carved in stone. I don’t mind hard work, but at that time, I was putting in a ton of late nights planning. I wasn’t in love with the idea of an entire career of that when my old Football coach, Dave Garland, called. Long story short, with Joyce’s blessing, I made the jump from elementary to secondary when I was hired by Mary Ellen Smith to do Spec Ed full time at Barrie Central.

And the rest, as the saying goes, is history …