Ian Morris
After student teaching in Wakefield, Mass., math teacher Ian Morris has joined Brookline high school for his second full year of teaching. Morris grew up in Maine and participated in many activities as a student, such as cross-country and hockey, as well as an outdoors club and a slam poetry club. Once Morris was able to drive and fly independently, he discovered a passion for travelling, which he still maintains today.
What does your job entail?
As a special ed math co-teacher, I pretty much serve as a lead teacher in a co-taught classroom. I’m really just there to help accommodate learners as necessary. For example, maybe somebody just needs larger text on their papers. Or maybe somebody just needs you to sit down and work a little bit extra one-on-one. I kind of serve as an additional person in the classroom to help move around and help with that.
What is an experience that you have had while teaching that sticks out to you?
Last year, during my student teaching I had an MCAS support class for students who needed a little bit of extra help with math…. We had a student that was a senior, and she had failed three times. It was one of her last goes. I worked extra hard with her for about six weeks leading up to it. When all was said and done, she had passed. That was just very fulfilling for me to see.
What drew you to work in math specifically?
Math was just always sort of the thing that clicked for me. I liked that it was a definitive, like, if you got this, you were correct. {Whereas in writing,} somebody could interpret it one way, someone could interpret it the other way. I liked that math was very, “This is the answer, you can get there. You’re doing things correctly.”
What are some things that you like about working in special ed and math?
I think the biggest thing that drew me into special ed was the abundance of small challenges that are present in an otherwise normal classroom today. There’s special ed where you’re working with more severe disabilities—kids who might need a little bit more help. And then there’s the kind of special ed where you’re working in co-taught classrooms, where maybe somebody just has dyslexia or calculation issues…. With the correct kind of strategies and the correct approach, those students can be just as successful if not more successful. That was something I always really liked. I know math isn’t everyone’s favorite topic, so that kind of stinks, but I think it has a lot of applications if you want to go into business or engineering…. I think it has a lot of applicability moving forward if you further your education.
What do you like to do when you aren’t teaching?
I really like to travel…. I don’t go around the world, but I’ve been all over the U.S.. I’ve been to different parts of Florida and Texas. I’ve been to Las Vegas. A few different national forests in like the midwest—all sorts of experiences. I like to travel and see new things.
What advice would you give to your high school self?
I would just say to enjoy it and not have your eyes on the end. I think a lot of kids immediately get to high school and their next thought is ‘college’…. The whole time they’re in high school, they’re just thinking about that, preparing for that, trying to get to that. That’s the next checkpoint. You’ll get there. The four years are going to pass, so just enjoy it.