MAKING learning engaging and fun has been a focus for Two Wells Primary School teacher James Martin since his high school days, and now he has been nominated as Public Primary School Teacher of the Year in recognition of his work.
Mr Martin was revealed as one of the finalists for the award, part of the South Australian Public Education Awards, last week.
The middle primary teacher is in his ninth year of teaching, and his sixth year at Two Wells.
Mr Martin said he was surprised to be nominated.
“I had no idea it was going to come,” he said.
“The nomination came from a colleague of mine, Mike Hawkey; he encouraged me to go ahead with the application process.
“I thought ‘why not, I’ll give it a whirl’, and now I’m down as one of the three finalists for Teacher of the Year – I didn’t see that one coming.”
Mr Martin takes the time to write personalised letters to his students at the end of every term, as a way of “keeping in touch” with his class on a personal level.
He is known around the school for his creative approach to learning, which he said was a result of the “boring” teachers he had in high school.
“By no fault of their own, I’m sure it was just their generation, the maths lesson consisted of opening a textbook and copying sums,” Mr Martin said.
“For me it was dry and boring, so when I decided I wanted to be a teacher I said ‘I’m going to be the exact opposite of that’.
“I want to be making lifelong memories for children so they can look back at their schooling and say ‘that was awesome, I really enjoyed that’.”
Another of his favourite activities as a teacher is the annual ‘go-kart grand prix’ he organises at the school, where he helps students design and build their own push go-kart as part of the school’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program.
Mr Martin then organises a race around the school for the kids to show off their work.
“I like to draw on my own childhood experiences, things I wish I could’ve done as a kid, and I try to make it happen for my students,” he said.
“(The go-karts) are all made out of wood with rope steering, someone pushes from the back while another steers.”
The winners of the 2019 Public Education Awards will be announced at an awards night in October.