Why I Teach at Dublin
Sarah Doenmez - Academic Dean
Why do I teach and what do I love about History? I teach because I love to explore ideas and questions, and hear students' ideas developing. I love to see students get enchanted with History when many assume it will be boring, and get excited about issues in the world around us, and ask about their roots. Students come to realize that all aspects of human experience have historical dimensions to them, and that we gain insight rom literature, art, music, and science as well as the more usual historical sources.
Share Article Katri Jackson - Science
What excites you about working at Dublin? I love the community here, both the students and the faculty. This is the most warm, welcoming place I have ever worked. It is easy to feel valued and included at Dublin. There is more camaraderie and support here than other places I have worked.
Why do you teach and what do you love about your discipline? I get excited to learn new things, so it is fun to see that excitement in others. I love science because it is always changing, and the more I learn the better I understand the world around me.
Jonathan Weis - Science and Mathmatics
What excites you most about working at Dublin? Community and flexibility are the two qualities I value most at Dublin. Knowing every member of the community brings us together with a sense of common purpose. I also appreciate the flexibility that is available to faculty, regarding teaching styles, for example. Dublin strikes an appropriate balance between offering independence and guidance to teachers, a balance that has been valuable to me over the years, and which is helpful for new faculty, as well. Previously I taught in a small public high school which shared many of Dublin's virtues, but where the community aspect was weaker. We did not share the same goals to the extent that we do at Dublin.
Erin Bouton - History
What excites you most about working at Dublin? The fact that I am able to teach, dorm parent and coach Dublin students is what excites me the most. In past years, I have had the privilege of not only have a student in class, but who has also been in my dorm and on the tennis team. You are able to see the same student in three unique realms at Dublin and they are able to see me in three very different roles.
Mario Flores - Music
What excites you most about working at Dublin? I am excited about the opportunity to work in a community wherein creativity and honor are integral components of every student's education. I've been teaching under the semester system for fourteen years so working with trimesters will be new! And unlike places I've lived at before, Dublin School and the surrounding community ooze with music, from folk music in our neighboring towns to performances by members of The Walden School, a nationally recognized summer music program on the Dublin School campus. It makes my job easier when there is already so much support for music!
John Emerson - Learning Skills
After many years of teaching in public schools, I had the opportunity to become a learning skills tutor at Dublin. It was a perfect time in my career to make a change as I had taught math and science in middle and high schools in which class size made it increasingly more difficult to connect with students on an individual basis. The change for me has been a very positive experience as the whole Dublin community focuses on helping individual kids learn about themselves and about their strengths and weaknesses.
I have often felt that true learning can only take place when a student feels relaxed and supported in a way that allows them to take risks and not be penalized for making mistakes. Learning from mistakes is especially true in the area of math as this is an area in which I find myself doing a lot of my tutoring in.
Holly Macy - College Counsellor
What excites you most about working at Dublin? Working at Dublin School is a unique experience. Having taught at a much larger boarding school prior to Dublin, I have a richer appreciation for the type of programs that we offer and the community that we build with our students. A characteristic of Dublin School that stands out for me is that we expect our students to engage with adults and each other in an inclusive manner. While respecting each other's personal interests, opinions and traits, we work together to learn and create. There is not one niche that Dublin School falls into because we attract students with various academic, artistic, and athletic/outdoor interests. This a refreshing place to work because while we have high expectations for our students, we support our students to help them develop as learners and community members.
Henry Walters - English
I teach English--to me less an academic subject than the central nervous system in the body of all learning. We know only as much as we can say, and we know lastingly only as much as we can say with grace, imagination, sincerity, rhythm. There's a poem by Wallace Stevens about two climbers who stop, mid-hike, panting, to stare at the massive rock rising above them. Picture the summit of Monadnock all gray-scaled with fog. It's not a beautiful place by any means, but an inhospitable, bleak, lonely one. The last stanza paints that picture, but adds something more, too:
There was the cold wind and the sound
It made, away from the muck of the land
That they had left, heroic sound
Joyous and jubilant and sure.
Earl Schofield - Visual Arts
One summer I had a big solo show at a gallery in Denver, CO, right across from the Denver Museum of Fine Art. I flew out for the opening and to give an artist's talk.
People think art openings must be fun, all those people there just to see you, wine passing around, compliments, everybody all dressed up. Cute "gallarinas" who wouldn't speak to you in high school are now sliding up to you all gush and blush. Well, they aren't fun. They are dreadful. My face always hurts from perma-grin and I want to sneak off someplace dark afterwards. I am always grateful when a student shows up and asks me something I can sink my teeth into. I am the world's worst small talker.
One of the things people like to ask me at openings is a variant of the question, "How long have you been a painter?"
Jo-Anne Regan - Learning Skills
What excites you most about working at Dublin? The school provides an environment with tremendous opportunities for students to expand and develop their own personal potential and establish a foundation for interesting and satisfying lives beyond Dublin. This is accomplished largely through the combined efforts of hard-working and interesting faculty, staff, and administrators, which is further complimented by the natural setting in the small town with a rich cultural history and much natural beauty of its own. I love the opportunity for rich possibility, and especially that I can be a part of helping students with a history of some academic challenges learn how to better access and enjoy their educational process. Major differences are notable in how well we know our students and how quickly we can try a new strategy with a student when needed.