My name is Mr. William (Bill) Hughes, I’m a 29-year-old Haligonian. Through my lifetime, I have always taken the opportunity to learn what was going on in the world around me. I take great pride in having been presented with several interesting opportunities to diversify my learning experience through exposure to different cultures, travel, foreign language studies or simply working closely with people from all over the world. This awareness helped to provoke a keen interest in education and the integral role that educators play in the day-to-day lives of today’s youth and in shaping tomorrow’s society.
My interests lie in the belief that I can make a positive contribution to the profession given my passion for learning. I’m described as intelligent, hardworking, focused, friendly, outgoing and enthusiastic. Teachers’ have an ethical responsibility to their students to exhibit these qualities and act as mentors during their developmental stages.
Like many others, I was influenced to become an educator when I was inspired by several of the teachers that went out of their way to make an impact on my life. I’ve modeled myself after those that engaged my interests and treated their students as equals. My passions for the language arts, technology, history, politics, music, film, cooking and sports will undoubtedly shine through and will help to peak the variety of interests that young minds possess.
Based upon these positive experiences, I decided that, I too, would like to someday push a student in a particular direction, peak their interest in academia and have a lasting effect on a young adult’s schooling experience.
As for my background, I grew up in the west end of Halifax in a family of four that consists of my father, William (III), my mother Arlene, and my younger sister Elissa. Our summers were spent at the family cottage in Point-du-Chene, N.B.
From an early age my parents presented me with the opportunity to enrol in the French Immersion Program in my hometown of Halifax. My education began at Saint Catherine’s Elementary School, and was furthered at Oxford Junior High School, before moving on to Saint Patrick’s High School.
In June of 2001, I received my High School Diploma and my French Immersion Certificate from Saint Patrick’s High School. To further my proficiency in the Language Arts, I moved on to study liberal arts at Saint Mary’s University. At Saint Mary’s, I discovered my passion for culture, literature and writing and chose to concentrate on both French and English. Given my interests in Journalism and Education, I felt that taking courses in Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, and History, over and above my Language Arts requirements, would be assets in my future endeavours.
In the summer of 2003, I travelled to Trois-Rivière, Québec to participate in a Federal Government Bursary Program. Upon completion of my courses at L’École International de Français à L’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivière, I received a ‘French as a Second Language Certificate’.
In 2004 and 2007, I was employed by a summer camp for school children ages 6-16 in Honesdale, PA, U.S. This wonderful experience provided the opportunity to work with middle and high school aged children 24-hours-a-day.
While at Saint Mary’s, my time working as a columnist and in management as an editor at the student newspaper The Journal allowed for the opportunity to see teaching from both sides of the experience.
It also gave me an awareness of the TESL Centre Conversation Partner Program at the school. My volunteer experience at the centre affirmed my budding passion for teaching and helped a great deal in confirming that teaching was a calling I wished to pursue.
Upon graduation from Saint Mary’s with a Bachelor of Arts in English and French, I attended the University of King’s College where I completed a graduate Bachelor of Journalism degree in the spring of 2006 before deciding to attend the University of Maine at Presque Isle to complete a degree in education.
After I completed all of my schooling, I moved to Incheon, Korea to teach English as a Second Language for one year. After completing a year of teaching, I spend 15 weeks travelling through East Asia visiting North Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Laos and Malaysia.
In January 2009, I began substitute teaching with the Halifax Regional School Board. I concluded the year as a longterm subsitute, teaching Social Studies 8/9 and Health for 2 months at John Martin Junior High. During the 2010-2011 school year, I taught Film and Video Production 12 and Physical Education Leadership 12 at Dartmouth High School. This year, I'm teaching English Language Arts 7/8 and Core French 8 at Ridgecliff Middle School.