Grade 10 English class at Clontarf Beach State High School in the summer of 1979. We sat in the demountable permanent building; louvre windows missing; yellow asbestos puffing out of holes punched in the fibro walls. Mr Meade walked up the three dusty stairs, across the verandah and into the classroom, an early version of a boom box in his hands. He placed it on one of the front desks and pressed play. Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘I am a Rock’ filled the hot air. That’s how we learned poetry. I was hooked ... on English, poetry and teaching (and Simon and Garfunkel).
I now know this as Universal Design for Learning: Multiple Means of Representation. Then, I knew this teacher had something special in his teaching repertoire. He had passion and ways of sharing that with us. Ways that engaged us. Ways that showed us how to think and then allowed us to express our thoughts.
How significant is this to me as a teacher? He is one of the reasons I am a teacher. I tell this story often to my classes. I still love that song.
