TORONTO — Harry Shuber, left, is a whitewater canoeist, sea kayaker and expedition guide who plays hockey twice a week.
He is a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and has played electric bass in bands at Toronto clubs since he was a high school student at the Toronto French School in the early 1990s.
But Mr. Shuber, as his students call him, maintains a certain formality in his Grade 7 and 8 classroom at the Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School.
Neatly dressed, with a patterned tie complementing his black shirt – typical attire, he says – Shuber, who is also the school’s middle school curriculum development co-ordinator, said in an interview last week that he believes a “visible difference” between students and teacher makes the students feel more at ease.
But he added that regardless of what a teacher is wearing, “kids realize if there’s substance or not.”
The 32-year-old Toronto native brings an eclectic background to the classroom. Before completing his bachelor of education degree at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, he received a BA in history from U of T and a post-graduate certificate from Humber College’s eco and adventure tourism program. He also spent a year studying for a bachelor of music degree at McGill University, majoring in jazz performance.
With a resumé that includes tutoring, coaching basketball, and working at Camp Northland-B’nai Brith, Shuber said that pursuing a teaching career was always something that interested him.
After a five-year-stint at Arlington Middle School, Shuber joined Paul Penna’s brand new middle school in 2006 as curriculum development co-ordinator and a teacher of core subjects, including math, social studies and language arts.
Last June, he led the school’s first annual canoe expedition to Algonquin Provincial Park.
Thematic study units during the year build toward the trip. A map of the park hangs on his classroom wall, and numerous thriving plants represent Shuber’s attempt to “bring nature in.”
Several times during the interview, he mentioned the importance of developing critical thought in students – “having them question, question, question,” he said.
However, he added, they have to do the work necessary to be able to question. “You want them to be engaged and move along the passive-to-active continuum.”
Shuber – who said he is “incredibly excited about” his work – believes that spontaneity, humour, respect, dealing with situations that arise, and “keeping young people on the edge of their seats” so that they want to know what is next are all important aspects of teaching.
As a teacher, he said, “you’ve got to be incredibly well prepared… All of what you’d like to see in a student, you should see in yourself.”
A lesson from the teacher: “The most important thing is believing deep down that you really can positively impact whatever situation you happen to find yourself in.”
