E2 - Matt Shchukovsky

Growing up, many of us had that one teacher that we just could not wait to be in class with - that teacher that other kids told stories about and who we would excitedly wait to have as our very own.

  For many  Lorne Park Public School students, that person is Grade 5 Teacher and Librarian Matt Shchukovsky - also known as Mr. S.

  Known for being funny, shaving his beard off for charity and being an all around nice guy - we sit down today to learn more about what he loves about teaching and how he connects so well with kids.

  This episode's Lorne Park Local Legends - The Rink Dads of Woodeden Park

  Do you know someone from South Mississauga who would make a great guest on the show?  Send your suggestion to lorneparkliving@gmail.com.

  Also, make sure to subscribe, rate and review!

    Information from the Episode:

 Lorne Park Public School
 1325 Indian Rd, Mississauga, ON L5H 1S3
 (905) 278-8771

If you are looking to donate to the Woodeden Park Outdoor Rink GoFundMe Page, you can do so at:

https://gofund.me/deb1cc4d

Do you know someone from South Mississauga who would make a great guest on the show? Send your suggestion to anuja@anujapereira.com

Also, make sure to subscribe, rate and review!

Follow me at www.instagram.com/anujapereira.homes

Transcript

0:01  
All right, Matt, thank you so much for joining us today. My pleasure. Yeah. So you are a staff member at Lauren Park Public School, affectionately known as Mr. S. What is it that made you want to become a teacher?

0:20  
As you know, started with a really deep philosophical questions. You know, I think I didn't originally want to be a teacher, or originally, I didn't know that I wanted to be a teacher, I guess that's probably the best way to say it. You know, growing up, I always wanted to be a lawyer, right. And I was very argumentative as a as a kid. And as I went into university, but I think it was, first or second year of university, I just, you know, the thought of, you know, being in an office being in a, you know, more of a corporate kind of environment was it wasn't, it wasn't the most appealing and I had like a moment where, you know, I just had a little bit of a, you know, a freakout, so to speak. And I really thought about what I, I, what I enjoyed. And growing up for, actually, for most of my life, I've always worked with kids as a, you know, as a, as a, as a teen, I did a lot of coaching on hockey teams, I worked in a camp, which I still kind of work at, you know, 30 years later. And working with kids was just something I was very passionate about, and trying to figure out how that kind of lends itself to a career and how that translates into, you know, the real world was something that I always, you know, was thinking about, but what brought me into teaching was I wasn't I wasn't the best student growing up, I played the played the game of school very well. I did well on the subjects that I was interested in, and I got A's in that. And the ones that I wasn't interested in, I did enough to get the beats, right. I didn't really enjoy it so much. But it was the it was the other opportunities in the school day that kind of lent itself to motivate me, the extracurriculars, the teachers who went out of their ways. And I think that's what led me to teaching where maybe it's that motivation to kind of pay it forward, and to give the kids that I'm teaching now, kind of the opportunities that I was given, and to engage and connect with those kids, and which is kind of what brought me to teaching and what I love about it.

2:53  
Oh, I have to tell you, my daughter was in JK at Lauren Park last year, and even at four years old, I remember her coming home and telling me about Mr. S, the grade five teacher. And so clearly, you know, you are impacting students. And so I have to ask, do you think your experience sort of being what sounds like a little bit disengaged? points in your schooling career? How do you think that's impacted what you do in the classroom now?

3:22  
You know, I think we, we as, as almost like a society kind of have to rethink about what school is, right? And what we really want to get out of the kids where we want to present to the kids, right, and, you know, growing up, it was very much, you know, here's the curriculum, we're going to teach the curriculum, and that's pretty much it, right. But, you know, connecting with the kids, you know, in so many different ways. Is is really what school is about. And you know, your daughter's a great example and you know, whether it's from kindergarten students who you know, I see in the hall or I get the pop in the room, it's just about connecting with them and making them you know, love this school experience, right? And if they can come home every day and they can list off like so many awesome things. Then it's really just that's that's what makes them love school and what gets them engaged and connecting to the other stuff. The curriculum, right?

4:25  
Yeah, well, you're doing something right. It seems. That's no question. I'm wondering I'm my experience is more in high school. But for you, what do you see in terms of the elementary school model being different? Now besides what you described, just like the curriculum being different and the digital delivery being different, what else do you think are the differences between school now and back when we were in school or when you were in school because I think that was more recent than me by a couple of years at least.

4:52  
I don't think it's that much of a difference. You know, I think technology is a big thing, right? Like just some of the stuff that, you know, we maybe back in the day, when we went to elementary school we, you know, wrote about in like fiction stories right now we have all this technology in our hands. And that opens up so many doors. And I think that's the other big thing, right? Like, we're so connected to the world. And we're more connected to what might have been like abstract concepts, right, we're learning about, you know, first First Nations and indigenous communities, right in, you know, their, their dire water situations, right. And in the past, if we learned about that, and we usually didn't even learn about that, but it was such an abstract thing. But with technology, we're able to connect with so much of the world right, and to really just, you know, explore things that were so far fetched to begin with.

6:02  
And I can imagine, during COVID, and the pandemic hitting technology, I know you work in the library and work with technology a fair bit. So technology was a big deal when COVID hit. What do you think the benefits? You know, there's certainly a lot of drawbacks to the COVID pandemic as a teacher. And do you see any benefits along those same lines as what you described as accessibility to places outside of ourselves?

6:28  
Yeah, you know, what I think even thinking more localized, right? rethinking the way we connect with, with our students rethinking the way that we connect with, with our families in the community, right, and, you know, even 10 years ago, if this pandemic would have hit, you know, how do we, how do we still keep school going? Right? How do we still connect with our families? Right, it would have been much more difficult than it would have been much more, it would have looked very different. Right? So technology, you know, kind of allowed us to make those connections, right, and our pandemic, highlighted those connections, and I think, you know, kind of forced, forced educators to kind of rethink how to make technology more purposeful, right? Are we just replicating kind of what we're doing? In the, you know, on pencil and paper? Are we going deeper with it? Right, and a lot of educators and I know, you could probably agree with in the high school level, right. kind of had to rethink on the spot. And how do we, how do we continue our classrooms in this new forum? Right?

7:48  
Yeah. I mean, we're still rethinking things right now. But I wonder, you know, what do you think? What did I want to ask you? I was gonna ask you, yeah, I was gonna ask, we'll start again. But on along that same lines, how are you feeling? Being back in the classroom is what I really want to know.

8:06  
I love it, you know, it's, it's night and day, it's the reason why I went to educate into education was for the connections and relationships that we can develop, which, you know, I think everyone would agree, it's, it's much easy, easier, and it's much more impactful to do that face to face, right. Technology was great, our virtual classroom environments was great, but nothing beats having the kids and in in the building, and, you know, having a real time engagement, right, and being able to, I think, being able to celebrate those achievements that we have, right? We had a child's birthday the other day in the class, and, you know, we sang We sang or Happy birthday, and we didn't have to, you know, we weren't all off key because our zoom and or Google meat connection was so you know, skewed because of our Wi Fi and all that it actually sounded like we're in harmony, right? Online, though, we still we still celebrated birthdays, but it kind of sounded like a cat being put in water, right. It's those little things that go a long way. Right?

9:25  
Absolutely. And I know I mean, being home. You know, I was teaching online. Well, my kid was my daughter was home learning online. And so hearing that transition in the classroom, and one of the things I got to hear as part of that was you running a lot of school wide initiatives like reading in, in the classroom or bringing, you know, Ms. Mariano the principle in to read why do you think those types of things were so important during COVID?

9:53  
Well, I think you know, we have to always take stock into what what's important regardless of the situation right and Community Building is so important to any school or any organization, right? And how often do we get a chance to bring the whole school together? And whether we're in the school, whether we're online, it shouldn't matter, we should always be looking for those situations and opportunities, right. And whether it's reading a book, I know we did. You know, last year, when we were online, we brought in, you know, a friend of mine to do like a boxercise kind of, kind of lesson for the whole school, which is great. But just, you know, it's those memories, right, and expanding a school to be more than just the four walls in your classroom. So I think those are, you know, those are the opportunities that we have to keep looking for.

10:51  
Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the memories that most Lorne Park public school students would have is that when they raise enough money for the Terry Fox Run, you do something pretty special. Can you tell me about that?

11:03  
Yeah, you know, we're always looking for a fun opportunity that makes teachers kind of look silly. And I know the kids love it. And I know, in the past, we've, we've done fundraisers, like Carrie Fox, where, you know, we students got a chance to spray paint the staffs hair. So last two years, you know, my hair got turned hot pink, right, and other opportunities, you know, during the year where I shaved off my beard, because for some reason, the kids really, really enjoy me doing that. So I know different staff we had a couple of years ago where Mr. Kay, myself and a few other staff members got duct taped to the wall. So it's just those opportunities, right, like, how do we engage the kids? How do we get them motivated? And if we're not having fun doing these things, right? It's such a, it's a missed opportunity.

12:03  
Absolutely. So you were at Lauren Park, and then you left for a period of time and had now have come back. So what do you think, is special about this community?

12:13  
Well, so I just want to clarify things because saying that I left sounds a little bit more more ominous. Yeah. So back in 2011, I was covering a part time lto. So long term occasional. I think it was a maternity leave. I wasn't sure exactly what it is. And it was a half a day a week. So it was a 10% job. I was supposed to be in the school for half a day a week. And I just fell in love with the school. I also the kind of teacher that like every school I go into, you're like, Oh, I love this school. This is my favorite school. But it's just, you know, those opportunities working with the kids, right? It was, it's pretty awesome wherever you go. But I fell in love with Lauren Park and, you know, heartbroken, kind of when I left when I guess the teacher's maternity leave was over which I don't hold it against her. But I told myself, you know, I don't know when it it was when it would happen. But someday, somehow I would come back. But you know, I think what I love about the school is it's a small school, and I love the fact that I can go, you know, in the halls and I know, every single kid and but even more than that, like I know, their hobbies, their interests, they tell me all about their extracurriculars, right? You know, they tell me that, you know, their brother at home lost their tooth, right. And it's that close community feel. That is just what I love about it. And I've worked at other schools that are like, you know, six 700 kids, and you don't have that same experience, you don't have that same closeness. And you see a lot of kids in that school and you're, you know, recognize students by their, you know, by their faces or by their names. But you don't have those opportunities to really delve in, in deep, right. And whether it's a kindergarten kid all the way to grade five, have a chance to get to know them have a chance to know what really motivates them what their likes are. That's just a really awesome part of the school.

14:30  
And I know there are many well loved teachers at Lauren proctor public school, there's no question there are many of you, but you are certainly one of them. So is that what draws students to want to be in your class? Is it that you want to have a connection with them? Or do you think there are other things that you bring to the classroom that are unique?

14:49  
I would hope you know that. There's a lot of reasons but you know, I think it's the big part of it has to do with the learning experiences that I give them. We really really delve deep into the world as a whole. And we kind of mold the and meld the curriculum into that aspect. We focus a lot on, you know, social justice causes, which really, you know, make the kids passionate about things. And I still have, you know, kids coming into my class, and they're like, Yeah, my brother or sister said, you know, we're going to learn about, you know, cleaning the ocean. Are we going to do that? When are we going to do that? And I'm like, Yeah, we're gonna, let's put that on the list. Right. But, you know, it's those opportunities using technology, which is really an integral part of my program, which the kids like, but it definitely creating the connections, developing those relationships with the kids, is also a big part of it. Kids need to know that they're, you know, cared for that. They matter. And like you said, we have a great school who does that, and any student who goes into any of the classes, they feel love for they feel cared, they feel cared for, and they're just, they're just welcomed, which I think is a big draw.

16:16  
Yeah, absolutely. Why? Why do you think it's important for students to know about social justice issues? And what about like, are they just too young to know about some of these things? Or why do you think it's important,

16:27  
I think, you know, I don't know who gave this quote. So I hate giving quotes without knowing who, who gave them. But so if you know, who gave this quote, then just feel free to jump in. But it had to do when someone was talking about racism and racism. And, you know, what is what is a young enough age to start discussing racism with kids. And I think the quote goes, and if I missed misspeak a little bit, I apologize, was that, you know, if a five year old is young enough to experience racism, than a five year old is old enough to hear about and discuss, right. And I think that really spoke to me, because, you know, out of out of care for our kids, we want to protect them, and we want to shield them from whatever pain we can add. But our kids are going to experience these, these things regardless, right? So starting at a young age, we can obviously we have to tailor it to the age that we're working with. But we need to make them aware of what's going on in the world, we need to make them aware of what to look for when they come across these situations, right. And I've had parents in a different school who said, you know, why does my kid need to know about racism? They're not racist? And I said, Yeah, I said, but your kid needs to be able to know what to look for. And they need to know what's out there, and what can happen to other people. So that if they do see it, they can, you know, Step up and stop. Same thing with other social justice causes, right? Like the environment, right? You know, teaching kids to become stewards of our world. And it's a starts at any age, right? We have our kindergarten kids who we take out in previous years, to go clean our fields, right in our parks, and, you know, finding out what they're passionate about, as far as social justice goes in, and, you know, helping to nurture that.

18:46  
Yeah, that's, that's amazing. And I couldn't agree with you more, I think starting young has so much value. And I think, you know, those age appropriate opportunities and those opportunities that we've had, unfortunately, we've had many with so much happening in the world and kids being so astute to hearing about what's going on around them, you know, we've had to have in our home, a lot of those conversations and those sort of teachable moments. And so to not have them in the classroom, I think, like you've said a couple of times, they're missed opportunities. And so, you know, having knowledgeable staff to be able to navigate those conversations and help, you know, arm parents and having those conversations because they aren't always easy for all of us. Right. So I think that's really, really helpful. I'm, I think the other thing that you certainly bring to the classroom is a high energy and a sense of humor. So I am wondering how you maintain that level of energy all day long when you're surrounded by this many kids saying, Mr. S, Mr. S, Mr. S all day long. What keeps you going? Is it just high levels of caffeine or do you have a secret?

19:55  
So I'll be honest with you, this is something that kind of amazes people I've only drank a quarter of a cup of coffee in my entire life. I don't like the way coffee tastes. And you know, I just I stay away from it because like, I have friends who drink like seven cups of coffee, like before 10 o'clock in the morning every day. And I'm like that is that that's a little intense for me. Right? So? I don't know, I think I've always it's weird. I'm like, I'm a high energy introvert, right? In certain situations, I'm very high energy and other situations, you know, that introvert side comes in, but when it comes to the kids in school, you know, like, I feed off of their energy. And I like the showmanship a little bit, you know, I'm not, I'm not shy in saying that. I have a little bit of an ego. Right. So I like the attention. But, you know, it's it's the Umer and it's the energy that is another way for the kids to get connected and engaged, right. And if we can't have a laugh, you know, in school, then then we're definitely missing something. And a little bit more sarcasm gets put into there when the kids love it. And I had parents who were like, oh, you know, my kid, wasn't that sarcastic when they came in? September? And I like yes. But

21:29  
that's who they are now. Right. So it's hard, but like, you know, I maintain that already, like, four o'clock hits. And I'm just like,

21:41  
there it goes. There it goes. I'm also wondering, so you have a commute home, you do not live in the area I, you know, I know you have a huge commitment to this community. And part of that is driving fairly far. So when your energy is waning at 4pm, and you are making that drive home on the 401, what are your favorite tunes to listen to? I got to know if it's like winding up winding down. What are you doing on that drive home?

22:08  
So this is another thing that like, people find so weird. I don't I don't listen to music in the car. I sometimes it's the silence that I love, and I appreciate. But other times, like I put on the occasional time I would put on a podcast. Other times I would, you know, listen to those like three, four minute Facebook videos of you know, sports talk shows. And it's just a way for me to kind of decompress that kind of a way for me to catch up on everything that's been happening in the world. And like, the eight hours since I've went into the school, right? But yeah, music is like, I don't know, maybe my attention is like a little scatter that I'm like, I kind of flip through the songs when I do try to listen to music and listen to 30 seconds. I'm like, Okay, what's the next song? So, yeah, that in coffee is always something that throws people off.

23:13  
That's funny. Well, now you have another podcast to add to your list, learn practice living, just throw it on subscribe, and you're in

23:22  
other words, I'll put it up as number one.

23:25  
There you go. Well, it sounds like teaching was certainly a calling for you. But if you had to take a guess, on what you would be doing, if you were not teaching, what do you think that would be?

23:35  
So one career before I finally said on into teaching, and I was really passionate about it until it kind of like something halted me in my tracks was I wanted to be a paramedic. I was really interested in it. Kind of like street level superhero kind of thing, which again, like not that I need any more attention, but it's always nice, but like, the idea is like, I'm going to come and I'm going to save your life. Like I was like, if we're making it all about me and not the people that work. But so I was like, Okay, I'm going to do this course I'm going to go to this program. And then I went to a first aid course, which was one of the prerequisites for this program in college. And I'm going through I'm like, Yeah, this injury I can do this one doesn't bother me. But then they talked about like, eye injuries and I'm like, This is not for me anymore. I can't help. I can't help in those situations. I told a friend who was with me and I said, if I got called to the scene and someone had an eye injury, I'd be like whoa, I can't do that. So that kind of halted me in my in my tracks, but I don't know anything that kind of is still working with kids. would be would still be like my profession in my Calling.

25:01  
Yeah, not not optometrist or ophthalmologist, it sounds like

25:05  
even when I got context as a kid, like, I was at the the store trying to put on contacts for about an hour, and then I'm like, and the the person who worked there was helping us that I don't think these are for you. So my my contact lens, you know, phase lasted about an hour. And so I think anything I related is not a it's not it's not where my life is headed.

25:34  
Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, I think you're doing okay, where you are. So hopefully, you'll be staying. But I'm wondering, I'm guessing a lot of Lauren Park High School students, are your former students, potentially you've been there long enough? When they come back? What do they most remember about you?

25:53  
Oh, it's funny. We had a, we had one of my former students come come back today to pick up his brother. And it's actually it was a former student of the school he was he wasn't actually a former student of mine. But I did coach him on a lot of the sports teams. And he came back and we just spoke for about 1015 minutes outside on the field. His his brother was playing and he was telling me about all the extracurriculars and all the sports that he liked, that he was playing, you know, I think it was in grade eight now. But that's where where we kind of go it's these experiences outside of the classroom. And you know, students would come back and they said, Oh, you know, I started playing basketball on the school team in grade four, and five, and I loved it. So I started continuing in middle school. And, you know, I tried out for the team in high school, and it's pretty awesome to see the opportunities that you give kids kind of lost with them and spur them on to try something new. So that's where a lot of those kinds of conversations, you know, go, I guess.

27:02  
Yeah, that's fantastic. So when I asked you to be on the podcast, I did a little bit of research the best I could do. And one thing that almost made me cancel my invite was when I found out that you are a little bit of a Habs fan potentially. Am I right in this question?

27:21  
A little bit? Yeah, that's one way of putting it somewhat more diehard Habs fan and I'm glad it you know, didn't completely cause you to cancel the interview of the podcast. So I appreciate that. It's really generous. Yeah.

27:40  
Yeah, yeah. Well, I know our listeners really want to know how you felt about that long playoff run from last year. You know,

27:46  
I felt really good. Like, I gotta tell you, there were so many wonderful things about it. Obviously, if we won the Stanley Cup, it would be the icing on the cake. But you know, getting to the Stanley Cup Finals. Awesome. But the greatest thing about that playoff run, was beating the leafs. I gotta be honest with you, if they just beat the leafs and they didn't win another game afterwards, I would still be you know, winning, winning the battle, so to speak, right. And the best part about is we had like, we had our kids online. And, you know, I go back and forth with the students about this. We have a few more leaf fans and Lauren Park than then Canadian fans, but especially when the leafs were up three to one like they were they were giving it to me, you know, left and right. Even when we did whole school things, the students from other classes were giving it to me, I would get emails from students. Oh, hey, Mr. S, did you know that the leafs are leading the series two to one and I got like not that I don't like I don't want the kids to suffer by any means. But seeing as that series kind of shifted, okay, they're up three to one. And it was three to two. And like the kids are making excuses. And then it was three to three and they got a lot more worried. And then, you know, when they lost the series, we had class the next day and I had one student who will always remember he came in and he was just it looked like someone passed away, right?

29:25  
Just Bondo, this despondent the life life of a Leafs fan, I think,

29:29  
and he looked at me and he said, like, his saga, he's like, Mr. S, just please don't, don't say anything. I told them I said, you know, it's gonna, it's gonna get better. And he's like, Oh, you think that the leafs are gonna win next year? I said, No, I said, but they're going to keep disappointing you. And they're going to keep letting you down, and it's not going to hurt as much as it did this time. It's going to get less and less painful. So, you didn't like that too much either. But it's my job as a teacher right? To teach them no, there's