From Student to Teacher: Griffin Hale '14 Returns to Greenwood

Griffin Hale ‘14 graduated from Western University with a major in Philosophy and is now completing a placement at Greenwood as part of his last few months of teachers’ college at Nipissing University.

Read about his experience at Greenwood below.

The entire Greenwood community has been extremely welcoming, starting with Mary Gauthier, Executive Director, Greenwood Centre for Teaching and Learning, who was wonderful enough to set up my placement. It's been so nice to feel immediately integrated with Greenwood again: reconnecting to teachers I had while I was a student, as well as meeting some great new ones. The Greenwood community has done an outstanding job welcoming me into their classrooms, particularly as everyone was still online when I started. I know it can be awkward meeting online, especially as a new teacher, but the students took it in stride. With all of that said, it is making for a wonderful and valuable experience for me here. 

Mary was able to partner me with Matt West and Callie Bowman in my primary teaching area - mathematics. I have also been able to pursue my interest in philosophy with Doug Brown. Observation is always helpful in furthering my own practice as it lets me see how experienced teachers interact with their students and format their lessons around their own teaching style. I've been able to work with students by assisting in two math classes as well as having incredibly engaging discussions with the Grade 12 Philosophy class. 
 
The two biggest things that I love about Greenwood are teacher commitment and sense of community. My teachers were incredibly supportive while I was a student at Greenwood and would go out of their way to accommodate everybody’s needs. I have seen this individualized support for students in all of the teachers I am working with now. I think this is one of the foundational pieces for Greenwood's community as well. Teachers are willing to push students to not only be better students but to be better people. 
 
On the student level, I can see this in students' willingness to joke with their teachers and push each other to succeed in class and in other endeavors like the recent ALIVE Outdoors Connectival program. I also see it in the staggering amount of club and extracurricular participation (shout out to the morning announcement crew doing an amazing job every morning).
 
A big thank you to all of you at Greenwood for fostering such a welcoming place and allowing me a spot in it during this tumultuous year!
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