New Zealand

Northeast Private Boarding School

Math Baccalaureate

I have been teaching for half of my working life. For the last 10 years I have been teaching at a boy’s school in Dunedin New Zealand. Half way through this time the school adopted the IB (International Baccalaureate). As a keen traveler I have always had an international perspective. To teach a program with an intentionally international perspective makes good sense to me in a shrinking world, facing many challenges.

Through the Cordell Hull Foundation teacher exchange program, I have had the opportunity to bring my IB teaching experience to a private girls’ boarding school in the Northeast US where the program is being introduced. I teach math and enjoy the challenge it offers. Not all students are a fan of math but it is required by the IB. There are courses as various levels and I enjoy the challenges each level brings.

Parallel to my teaching I keep up with my previous occupation, Sheap Shearing. I began my working life on the family sheep farm in the very south of New Zealand. From that I followed my two older brothers and became a professional sheep shearer. Prior to teaching I worked as a shearer full time but once I had completed my University study it became more of a hobby than a job.

Here in America I have made some good contacts and have kept this going. It gives a good balance to my school duties. To get away for a day to shear some sheep and meet some new people is a genuine pleasure on a personal level. Odd though it may seem after a week of teaching math, a drive to the adjoining state and an afternoon of physical work is refreshing.

Combining my hobby and my occupation, I am really enjoying my time here in the US.