By Finn Muir
Where are you from, when did you get here?
“Originally I come from the US, and I’ve been teaching internationally for 13 years. My wife and I, before we moved to Singapore, we lived in Germany for 3 years and this is our second year in Singapore. We live here with our two sons who are in grade 2 and SK.”
How are you enjoying CIS so far?
“We’ve really enjoyed CIS. We have got the chance to see it as a teacher and vice-principal but also as a parent. For me, I think the best part about CIS is the caring community that’s created here. The academics are incredible and there is so much great teaching and learning that’s happening, but I think the care for each individual student is really what makes CIS unique.”
If you had to change one thing about CIS what would it be?
“It’s a tricky question, I think maybe and, this is hard within our current context but I’d love to see CIS without all the restrictions, that we have to right now because of COVID. I think students being able to enjoy SMART in the different pods, to be able to learn in different ways, to work together, to be able to play sports and get back to our live performances. All of those things are part of the CIS experience that I haven’t gotten a chance to see yet. “
What is one thing you can’t wait to do once the pandemic is over?
“I think it’s the same thing, it’s creating the opportunity for students and teachers to gather more in groups together. I think what we know [is] that when people are able to share joy together, that friendships and deeper meaning happen for students and teachers. And that’s the one thing that we’ve missed for the last year and a half, is the ability to get together, form deeper connections, play sports, to beagle to score music, to just have the free time to explore and be together.”
To get to know you better, if you could meet one person dead or alive, who would it be?
“ I’ll pick an educator. Her name is Maria Montessori. I went to a Montessori school when I was growing up from grades Kindergarten to 8. The focus on the learning [has] some different pieces there. This woman Maria Montessori was the person who founded the education and really helped to drive that and so I’d love to have some time to sit with her and explore how did she come up with these ideas, what really influenced her to delve into the style of learning and learn more from her on how to be a better educator, and ask her some questions.”