Get to Know Mr. Harris

One of the many aspects that drew me to Greenwood was the abundance of new and engaging teachers. This year, my Science class has one of those new teachers: Mr. Harris, who teaches Grade 10 Math, Grade 9 Science, and next semester will teach Grade 10 Science and assist with Grade 11 and 12 Biology.

One of the best parts about Greenwood’s community that has unfortunately not been the same due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is the connection that students and teachers create. With virtual learning, if you don’t have one of the new teachers in your class, you don’t get to know them that well. I thought interviewing Mr. Harris would be the perfect way for the Greenwood community to get to know him.
 

When I asked Mr. Harris if he had always known he wanted to become a teacher he told me that he had previously worked at a bank but wanted a more meaningful career. He decided to quit his job and went back to school to become a teacher. He had said that this was one of the most daring things he had ever done.
 

I’m sure many of the new students this year can relate to Mr. Harris in the sense that Greenwood Outdoor Education trips form such strong bonds with your peers and teachers. Joining a new school and not having any opportunities to build those connections can be quite challenging. Despite all the unusual circumstances, Mr. Harris says that the teachers and students he has worked with thus far have been super supportive and helpful. They have made this time “as good as it can possibly be right now” by trying to form a sense of community in the classroom through a screen.

Some of his pastimes include his new 10-month old puppy named Happy that he adopted just before the world went into lockdown. He has planted a garden and is working on building a canoe in his garage. Mr. Harris says that if he could go on an OE trip he would choose to go on one of the canoe trips. 

Mr. Harris grew up in Oakville but always loved Toronto and knew he wanted to eventually move here for work. His favorite subject in school growing up was music and he loved being able to “use your brain in a different way” than in math and sciences. He grew up playing the trumpet but currently plays the guitar… sounds like the perfect fit for OE campfire performances!

One of the people he looks up to is a camp director and retired teacher who was also one of the people to inspire him to become a teacher himself. He is a fan of John Steinbeck and when asked who he would want to play him in a movie, he chose Paul Rudd. Like most of us, he loves nice warm summer weather and getting outdoors.

In order to fully get to know Mr. Harris you would have to know the answer to the age-old question, do pineapples belong on pizza? To Mr. Harris, they do! He says it’s a nice way to balance out your pizza.

The final question I asked was, “Why did you choose Greenwood over other schools?” I’m pretty sure if you asked anyone else at Greenwood this question, we would all say the same thing Mr. Harris said: “Greenwood has an amazing community and you can see it in the way the teachers care so much about the students and the Advisers are so involved in making sure that everyone is successful and gets where they want to go.”

I hope this helped you to get to know Mr. Harris and hopefully once we are back in the building you’ll be able to put a name to a new face in the halls and say hi.