About FVDES
Matthew Webster
My first teaching assignment was at Sardis Secondary in 1993 where I taught many diverse courses over a 13 year period (Humanities 9-enriched; Social Studies 10; English 10; Social Studies 11; English 11; Theatre Production 11/12; Law 12; Comparative Civilizations 12; Philosophy 12; History 12; and Advanced Placement World History). I also helped open G.W. Graham Middle-Secondary School as the Lead Social Studies teacher, and taught for two years at Chilliwack Secondary as well. Teaching English 11 and Social Studies 11 Online at FVDES provides a new challenge and opportunity to share the humanities with online learners.
I grew up in Victoria, BC, ironically quitting school early in grade 11 to join a full-time touring band, a career I enjoyed for a dozen years, playing venues from Victoria to St. John's, NFLD. After “retiring” from the music business, I took a B.A. (double major in English and History) at UVic, and then completed a B.Ed at UBC. While teaching at Sardis I also did a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at SFU.
My wife, Janine, teaches music at G. W. Graham, and we've collaborated on musical theatre productions with SSS, CSOPA, CMT, and Graham Musical Theatre (eleven, so far) since 1998.
I am very much looking forward to working with you at FVDES as we try to sort out our world and our place in it.
After all, as Albert Einstein wrote:
| It is not enough to teach a man a specialty. Through it he may become a
kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed personality. It is
essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling
for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the
morally good. Otherwise he—with his specialized knowledge—more closely
resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person. He must
learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their
sufferings in order to acquire a proper relationship to individual
fellow-men and to the community. |
« Back |
