Teachers Don’t Teach at Ward

There is a huge misconception that teachers at Mary Ward do not teach because it is a self-directed school. Two of my best friends and myself took summer school in grade ten to earn a new credit for physics. Our teacher, Mr. Verre, was a nice guy. He had a great sense of humour and he was a good teacher. One day though, he made a comment about Ward and how the teachers at our school do nothing but wait for students to hand work in. Another teacher, Mr. Daoust, my advanced functions teacher in summer school last year, also made a comment about how very little work Mary Ward teachers must have to do. I have pride in my school and I see the work that my teachers put in, and biased or not, I stand by my opinion that teachers at Ward probably work harder than regular high school teachers do.

Maybe we Mary Ward students sometimes describe our school in a way that belittles the amount of work our teachers put in. “I go to Mary Ward. It’s self-directed which means we work on our own pace and we basically teach ourselves.” Many students have probably

explained Ward this way and it will definitely have people wondering whether or not teachers teach. What we fail to say is the difficulty teachers have by having to help guide students through the course individually. Since not everyone is ever on the same pace, teachers can’t just hold one big lesson and have everyone understand that part of the course. They have to hold numerous seminars which a regular high school teacher can do in one day. Ward teachers also have the task of writing out the curriculum in units which students can easily understand because most of the time, we are working on our own. Regular teachers can just simply go on a website, print off a lesson plan (one that is not even theirs), read it, and teach in front of a class the next day.

Although teachers at Ward are there to teach us academically, they – more than any other

school – teach us about life. Since there are no actual classes, and teachers aren’t constantly dishing out lessons, students have the opportunity to create relationships with their teachers. Personally, I have learned so much from some of my teachers about things outside the academic realm. They’ve given me advice about life outside of high school and I have come to the point to consider them not just teachers, but as friends. Normal high school students don’t have such an opportunity because they have to sit and hear their teacher go on and on about why E=MC² and they never have the chance to build an extra-curricular relationship. At Ward, while you ask a teacher to help you figure out the impact of globalization on trade unions, you can also have a short discussion about things outside of school, what party you went to during the weekend.

The next time another a teacher from another school says Mary Ward teachers do no work, I’ll just tell him or her that it’s not the Ward teachers’ fault they can work and play at the same time.