Canadian educator Adrian French, who teaches history at St. Michaels University School in Victoria, British Columbia, recently connected with Islip Middle School students in the EXCEL program as part of the ongoing “Inventing Self” series of inspirational guest lectures. French, who has won the Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History and the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, spoke to the students via video conferencing from his home. In his talk, French relayed his life story from dropping out of high school to military service and working as a tile setter in Los Angeles. His experiences throughout this life journey proved crucial when he moved back to Canada and decided to attend university and become a teacher.
“I was pretty much 17 when I checked out from high school and I was 27 when I went back,” French said. “I hadn’t written anything more than a love note to my girlfriend. Having to write essays was incredibly difficult for me to do, but it’s something that I wanted, and that time I’d spent in the army and as a tile setter – the idea that if I wanted something, I had to work at it – really came in. I loved athletics, I loved coaching and I decided to become a coach and began studying soccer. In Canada, making a living as a soccer coach is incredibly difficult, so I needed a backup plan, which was teaching. And I thought, well, I love coaching and coaching’s like teaching, so I began studying how to become a physical education teacher, but also to how to become a social studies history teacher, and this is the path that I went on. I now have three degrees, and I learned that education and learning is like any other skill. What are the skills I need? How do I break it down? How do I master it? Resilience matters. One of my favorite quotes comes from the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who said that when you come up against a brick wall, the next logical step is not to start beating your head against it, it’s to pause and figure out how to get over it, around it, under it or through it, and that is the resilience of being a learner.”
“What I learned from Mr. French was that even if you think you’re doing the worst at life, you can always come back from it, and no matter what, you can always succeed,” sixth grader Riley Viviani said.
“Even though you might seem like you’re a dark point in your life, you can always build back and create your own path rather than blame yourself,” added sixth grader Jameson Lynch.
Date Added: 6/21/2024