教师重点:2020年10月

MM: 我得了B.A. 毕业于卡尔顿学院，主修化学. 我收到了一个M.S. 从东北大学化学专业毕业. I have taken post-graduate classes in several disciplines at DePaul, Loyola, Drake and others.

在成为esball世博的老师之前你是做什么的?

MM: Other than a summer of teaching at Gordon Tech [now DePaul Prep] after graduating from Carleton, esball世博是我的第一份全职教学工作.

你现在喜欢读什么书?

MM: 我刚做完 盗贼之城 大卫·贝尼奥夫著. I highly recommend this World War II historical novel set around St. 在纳粹入侵期间的彼得堡. The story of two distinctly different young men becoming close friends during extreme deprivation and societal breakdown was a page-turner. It read like a classic Russian novel and so it touched on the ‘big questions.’

我才刚开始 这条河 彼得·海勒，他写道 狗之星. 狗之星 是一本伟大的后启示录读物吗. The pandemic seems to be drawing me to dystopian novels, for some reason.

你在课堂之外有什么兴趣爱好?

MM: “课堂”似乎永远不会结束, but I manage to wedge in my favorites 在这里 and t在这里: reading, 运行, 园艺, 烹饪, 水族馆使, 徒步旅行/露营, 做爸爸和修理房子. 而且我总是想在一天中硬塞一部好电影, especially one that has me thinking about the subject for days after. I still think about movies like “A Serious Man” and the Polish film “Corpus Christi” even though it has been a long time since I’ve seen them. They are both stories of transformation and faith-具有挑战性的 to the extreme.  

你在学生时代参加过哪些球队和/或俱乐部?

MM: I ran cross-country and track, was involved in student governance and was senior class president. I was in the media and radio clubs and helped create a documentary that I was proud of on The Circus School in Indiana.

MM: I am the chairperson of the Science Department and help with bus driving. I have retired from coaching track (after 24 years) and 运行 the Environmental Club.

esball世博学生的特点是什么?

MM: esball世博学生认真对待学习. They are strongly motivated to go to good colleges and universities. 也, a Fenwick student is curious about and has great respect for life and people, 接受过文科教育吗, 并渴望成为一个善解人意和正直的人. 一个esball世博的学生已经准备好被召唤为领袖了.

When did you decide to become a teacher, and why did you choose this field?

MM: I’m not sure this is the singular point at which I made the decision that would change my life, but maybe it is: I tutored chemistry in college and one organic student, a no-nonsense rugby player who was tired of just getting by in chem, 来找我帮忙. 我只是浓缩了, rephrased and repackaged the excellent notes she had from her excellent professor and went over all of her lectures again. 当她说“麦金利”之类的话时, I understand this (expletive deleted)’ and she did her organic assignments expertly after that, 部分原因是我说的那些话, 我决定也许这就是我想做的.  

MM: Many good teachers influenced me over the years I’ve been at Fenwick. The thoughts about teaching that have stuck center around the fact that true teaching and learning are not always fun and enjoyable. 学习是件苦差事. 对先入之见的挑战和纠正是令人谦卑的. 课堂上的教与学越多, 就会有更多的哀号和咬牙切齿. A teacher must be fair and understanding and caring during the inevitable pain. 最后，老师一定要脸皮厚，有毅力. Our profession is a burnout profession whether we’re first-year teachers or 50-year teachers. 真正的教学需要勇气.  

I like to think that I’ve persisted in wanting to make every student a good chemist — questioning, 在高水平上重新评估和思考. I want to believe that I’ve adopted my colleagues’ advice on welcoming change but respecting the traditions that work. I hope that I will take to heart what many have passed on: Although teaching will wear me down, 我应该珍惜最后剩下的一切. 

MM: 这很简单. 我是一名化学家，所以我喜欢教化学. 我还接受过环境科学方面的培训, and I hold dear every day I was able to teach my environmental students.

MM: If my students learn to cherish others as the greatest lab partners in life, 我取得了巨大的成功. 和, 当然, 每当我的学生在化学方面取得成功时, 在任何程度和任何层面上, 我在教学方面取得了最大的成功. 

MM: Unfortunately, students are now building extensive resumes for colleges. T在这里 are too many activities and students have to fill their out-of-class time with practices and meetings. This tidal wave of unending activity is putting at risk mental and physical health. 我们的学生睡眠不足. What makes no sense to me is that t在这里 is no top-tier college or university that requires or expects its students to take on the workload of an average student at a competitive high school. 除了惊人的工作量, some high schools are trending away from liberal arts and starting to instruct high schoolers that they need to take classes based on their potential careers.   

I feel for our nation’s sleep-deprived, narrowly taught and stressed-out students. I hope that one day, top universities will look at Fenwick’s model as the correct one. 现在, 我们的学校应该留在一个艺术的地方, 社会研究, 神学, 体育课, 语言, math and science are taught side-by-side with equal emphasis. Our school should continue the tradition of graduating voracious readers, 熟练的作家和演说家, and students who are committed to life-long learning and healthy lives.