From using glow in the dark genes to demonstrate how bacteria grow, to ensuring Haileybury Pangea students have access to the latest digital technology, the online school’s brilliant and committed teachers are creating memorable learning moments.
As a teacher of VCE Biology, Mark McTier is a familiar face to Haileybury Pangea’s senior students. He is also the Head of Science at Haileybury (Senior School) and Science Coordinator for Haileybury Rendall School in Darwin.
He navigates his various roles and responsibilities thanks to some precision planning and careful time management, and enjoys the mix of teaching both in the classroom and online.
“I normally start the day early with my tutor group students on campus and then meet my Haileybury Pangea students. My first Haileybury Pangea class is on a Monday morning, so that’s a chance to talk about what everyone has done at the weekend and to then discuss what we’ll be doing in class that week,” says Mark.
“Sometimes we do a science experiment and we have a customised Haileybury Pangea science filming pod that allows me to zoom in on the experiment so everyone online can clearly see what I’m doing.”
Mark is passionate about ensuring that students who learn online at home have access to the same kinds of learning experiences as students in on-campus classrooms. During one experiment, he inserted a ‘glow in the dark’ gene originating from jellyfish into bacteria to make the bacteria glow.
To make sure Haileybury Pangea students could see the impressive results, he turned off the lights and used a series of cameras and UV lights to zoom in on the bacteria in the petri dish so fascinated students online could see the fluorescent bacterial colonies in as much detail as they would in the classroom.
Mark ensures his Haileybury Pangea students are up to date and supported in their learning by sharing detailed notes and videos and having regular one-on-one check-ins to discuss any challenges and to answer questions and talk about homework.
He is also available to talk with any Haileybury Pangea parents who want to know more about what their children are learning and how they can support that experience.
Watch the video here.
“It’s important to build rapport and to work closely with every student to make sure they have an excellent understanding of what I’m teaching. I enjoy being involved in the frontiers of education and Haileybury Pangea is an opportunity for me to do that. For my students, I hope my enthusiasm and love of science is infectious.”Mark McTier, Haileybury Pangea Science Teacher
Carlie Gannon is Deputy Head of Digital at Haileybury and a Year 6 maths teacher and tutor at Haileybury Pangea. She has been part of Haileybury’s teaching team since 2015 but this is Carlie’s first year working with Haileybury Pangea’s Year 6 students.
“Most of our Years 6s started at Haileybury Pangea last year, so I may currently be teaching the first cohort to go all the way through Haileybury Pangea from Year 5 to Year 12,” she says.
Carlie’s role as Deputy Head of Digital has close ties with how students learn across Haileybury Pangea as she helps build and maintain the Canvas learning management system that holds learning resources for students on campus and online.
“We build our Haileybury Pangea courses so lessons can be self-paced. A student may be absent or a public holiday may affect lessons and we future proof our courses so any lesson can be independent and self-paced. It reflects the flexibility that Haileybury Pangea has become renowned for.”Carlie Gannon, Deputy Head of Digital at Haileybury
Carlie ensures that online students have opportunities to enjoy school outside of homework and class time.
“We’ve just finished a unit where students worked in teams to create a friendship video and while that lesson was taking place, we could have groups of students in separate breakout rooms so they had private space to work together. But teachers could still drop in on them and give them any help they needed,” says Carlie.
“We’re mindful of the fact that our Haileybury Pangea students aren’t physically in each other’s presence all the time so we encourage them to work together and socialise whenever they can.”Carlie Gannon, Deputy Head of Digital at Haileybury
As Haileybury Pangea continues to grow and student numbers rise, teachers like Mark and Carlie are just two of the inspirational minds sharing their Haileybury expertise to ensure every student at Haileybury Pangea matters every day.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Haileybury acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
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