Academics
Teacher Appreciation: Mr. Jay Connolly '80
"I started teaching at Shawnigan in 1986. I helped with classes and coached. I've been here since, except for two leaves. In 1994-1995, I worked as an editor for a literary press, and then from 2004 to 2007, I taught at St. Michaels University School in Victoria.
When I was being interviewed by the Headmaster, Doug Campbell, in 1986, I thought, Yeah--no way way he’ll hire me. There were still too many people around who remembered my antics as a student. There’s a saying that runs, “Not every rose blooms on the same day,” and when I finally raised my blooming brain through the dirt, the experience was a powerful one.
Teaching is a human exchange. The ability to empathize and to understand that motivational force exists inside the student, not the teacher--these qualities allow us to establish positive relationships with kids. Possibly because I have remained deeply immature, I want my classroom to be a little unpredictable. I want it to be a place of ideas, but I also want it to be a place of play. Play is a legitimate means of learning. When we are engaged in play, we become attentive and we learn.
I think of teaching as a constant cycle of inspiration, instruction and discipline. At the start of most classes, I try to explain the why of things. Why a skill matters. What someone did with it. Why it can help the students. I want to inspire them to rise to the challenge of learning. Then, when they’re ready, instruction. I show them how to improve their skills. Inevitably, of course, teenagers will drift away from the lesson to their inner worlds, so I have to bring them back. It’s not discipline in the sense of punishment. More like re-focusing them. I'm trying to inspire, I'm trying to instruct, I’m trying to redirect all that youthful energy.
I have never enjoyed teaching more than I do now. As I get older, I am increasingly aware of the finite nature of life. “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” Robert Frost said. I am approaching the end of my career. This has brought with it an even deeper sense of connection to the place and to the students.
I'm not good at anything in life except being articulate. It’s my only skill. I can convert experience and observation into clear sentences. And it was the School that permitted me to learn the craft of public speaking by experimenting on them. I spoke a couple times early in my career. The writing and the delivery were rough, but I tried to learn from my mistakes. At some point, I learned that working with an audience is best viewed as an opportunity to give, not to take. If you’re in it for adulation and praise, you’ll always be afraid of the people. You have to give yourself away. In everything I write, I try to acknowledge human weakness and human imperfection and human struggles, and since I am weak and imperfect and I struggle, that approach provides rich material. I want to remind people that we’re all trying to figure out the same puzzle--but it’s our first time in the maze. We are not experts. Some young people get hung up on perfectionism, which I think is dangerous. There are no perfect human beings, and to indulge the illusion of an error-free existence (or even an error-free day) can lead people into negative territory.
In the classroom or at the front of the Chapel, I try to show people themselves, often by revealing my own battles. When you do your work well, you capture “the human moment.” It’s an old notion--what Aristotle called mimesis. All artists hold a mirror toward the audience. Hello. This is you. This is me. Here we are.
Education is the search for connection--with other people, sure, but also between disciplines and ideas. It’s amazing how often I find myself telling my students that writing a research essay is a scientific process and that I am teaching them the importance of the scientific method. Given the propaganda, alarmism, and conspiracy theories running rampant online today, there may be no more important skill than logical self-defense.
Shawnigan Lake School grows people. We grow the people that live in this community; that’s our job. To support one another, and to see one another grow and become stronger and more capable people. Education is based on the assumption that we can design and shape ourselves for the life we want to live. In a classroom, people believe in their dreams, and I am grateful to be part of that. The classroom has taught me who I am and helped me to grow. I have always felt supported and respected by my students. Maybe everything of value is a two-way street.
To watch young people discover their beliefs, to be willing to stand up for themselves, to learn the meaning of friendship, and to find within themselves a capacity for growth--it’s an honour to participate in that. When I came to Shawnigan as a teacher, I stumbled into the meaning factory. My life here has been a privilege, and I try to respond to my good fortune with gratitude. If I can one day raise my gratitude to the level of my privilege, then maybe I will have paid back a little of what Shawnigan has given me."
- From an interview with Mr. Jay Connolly '80 (English Teacher)
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Teaching is a human exchange. The ability to empathize and to understand that motivational force exists inside the student, not the teacher--these qualities allow us to establish positive relationships with kids. Possibly because I have remained deeply immature, I want my classroom to be a little unpredictable. I want it to be a place of ideas, but I also want it to be a place of play. Play is a legitimate means of learning. When we are engaged in play, we become attentive and we learn.
I think of teaching as a constant cycle of inspiration, instruction and discipline. At the start of most classes, I try to explain the why of things. Why a skill matters. What someone did with it. Why it can help the students. I want to inspire them to rise to the challenge of learning. Then, when they’re ready, instruction. I show them how to improve their skills. Inevitably, of course, teenagers will drift away from the lesson to their inner worlds, so I have to bring them back. It’s not discipline in the sense of punishment. More like re-focusing them. I'm trying to inspire, I'm trying to instruct, I’m trying to redirect all that youthful energy.
I have never enjoyed teaching more than I do now. As I get older, I am increasingly aware of the finite nature of life. “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” Robert Frost said. I am approaching the end of my career. This has brought with it an even deeper sense of connection to the place and to the students.
I'm not good at anything in life except being articulate. It’s my only skill. I can convert experience and observation into clear sentences. And it was the School that permitted me to learn the craft of public speaking by experimenting on them. I spoke a couple times early in my career. The writing and the delivery were rough, but I tried to learn from my mistakes. At some point, I learned that working with an audience is best viewed as an opportunity to give, not to take. If you’re in it for adulation and praise, you’ll always be afraid of the people. You have to give yourself away. In everything I write, I try to acknowledge human weakness and human imperfection and human struggles, and since I am weak and imperfect and I struggle, that approach provides rich material. I want to remind people that we’re all trying to figure out the same puzzle--but it’s our first time in the maze. We are not experts. Some young people get hung up on perfectionism, which I think is dangerous. There are no perfect human beings, and to indulge the illusion of an error-free existence (or even an error-free day) can lead people into negative territory.
In the classroom or at the front of the Chapel, I try to show people themselves, often by revealing my own battles. When you do your work well, you capture “the human moment.” It’s an old notion--what Aristotle called mimesis. All artists hold a mirror toward the audience. Hello. This is you. This is me. Here we are.
Education is the search for connection--with other people, sure, but also between disciplines and ideas. It’s amazing how often I find myself telling my students that writing a research essay is a scientific process and that I am teaching them the importance of the scientific method. Given the propaganda, alarmism, and conspiracy theories running rampant online today, there may be no more important skill than logical self-defense.
Shawnigan Lake School grows people. We grow the people that live in this community; that’s our job. To support one another, and to see one another grow and become stronger and more capable people. Education is based on the assumption that we can design and shape ourselves for the life we want to live. In a classroom, people believe in their dreams, and I am grateful to be part of that. The classroom has taught me who I am and helped me to grow. I have always felt supported and respected by my students. Maybe everything of value is a two-way street.
To watch young people discover their beliefs, to be willing to stand up for themselves, to learn the meaning of friendship, and to find within themselves a capacity for growth--it’s an honour to participate in that. When I came to Shawnigan as a teacher, I stumbled into the meaning factory. My life here has been a privilege, and I try to respond to my good fortune with gratitude. If I can one day raise my gratitude to the level of my privilege, then maybe I will have paid back a little of what Shawnigan has given me."
- From an interview with Mr. Jay Connolly '80 (English Teacher)
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
