Congratulations to Mark Auger for achieving his PhD!

If there’s anything the Greenwood community loves, it’s a challenge. Students are consistently growing both personally and academically, whether it’s in the classroom, on an Outdoor Education trip or through an extracurricular. The passion to pursue a challenging yet rewarding goal is not limited to students, however, as Greenwood teacher Mark Auger recently completed his PhD in Education.

The thought of pursuing a doctorate related to literature had always interested Mark, but it did not become a reality until he learned of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education’s (OISE) department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. It was through this program that Mark was able to fully delve into his research of peer editing groups, something that had sparked his interest at Greenwood years prior. 

“I’d always used peer editing groups as an English teacher, but always wondered about their effectiveness and dynamics,” Mark explained. “Two years ago, I researched the dynamics of a variety of peer editing groups in my own Writer’s Craft class here at Greenwood, with some of my students serving as the research participants.”

His research was also founded in the studies of Dr. Guy Allen, a scholar and associate professor at the University of Toronto, who taught several classes of Mark’s during his time in the program. 

Pursuing a PhD is challenging enough, and Mark pursued while remaining a teacher at Greenwood. 

How was Mark able to maintain this balance?

“Since becoming a parent, I’ve noticed that my time management skills have levelled up, out of necessity. This was an extension of that,” Mark said. “Work-life balance is a concept thrown around a lot, but it was needed for this.”

The time management clearly paid off, as not only did Mark receive his PhD but the committee that reviewed his dissertation would accept it ‘as it stands’, meaning that no changes were needed. Reflecting on what it took to achieve such a monumental goal, Mark mentioned three key ideas: routine, support and being intrinsic. 

The time he set aside at the library each day was eventually done out of habit and having a strong support system both at home, in the program and at Greenwood helped Mark to never lose sight of his goal.

Of course, being deeply passionate about the foundation of his research played a major role in keeping Mark focused throughout his studies.

“I consistently loved what I was doing while I was doing it. I loved reading and writing papers. I loved discussing my work. I loved taking courses. I loved going to the library and editing it for hours on end,” Mark explained. “You have to love what you do as you’re doing it.”

Congratulations again, Mark Auger, PhD!