Teacher Tag: Mr Henry
Interviewed by Ruwan Jinadasa, Mily Gu and Shan Balakid
I: Did you have plans for this year that were cancelled due to corona?
Mr Henry: I had a nice trip booked for Tasmania. Yeah, we were going to __ river, and go through __ island, which is south of Hobart, and meet my friend who moved down there. And then I was going to do a little road trip up the east coast, so I’m shattered that we haven’t been able to do that. That’s probably the one thing I’ve missed.
Ruwan: Have you been to Tasmania before?
Mr Henry: Yeah, I’ve been a few times, maybe 2 or 3 times. I was gonna go to a few different spots which would’ve been nice but Tasmania is so nice. Have any of you been?
Mily, Shan, Ruwan: No, we haven’t but I really wanna go.
Mr Henry: I reckon if you like hiking, beaches and food, Hobart’s really nice. It’s quiet but there’s a lot of good markets. And Cradle Mountain, which is a few hours drive from Hobart, there are some really nice walks. You can do like a big six day walk if you’re really into hiking and camping. Last time I really wanted to see a platypus or tassie devil, but didn’t see either.
I: What do you look forward to at Uni High?
Mr Henry: I guess I really enjoy being in the class and having banter, talking to the students. The students and the student culture is the best part of the school in my opinion. I think I just look forward to having a laugh and getting to know my students.
Mily: That must’ve been hard during online school
Mr Henry: Yeah it wasn’t easy last year, but it was lucky I had good classes.
I: Is Uni High the first school you’ve taught at? Or was there a previous school?
Mr Henry: This is my first school and this is my third year of teaching. I think Shan, I had you in my first year of teaching.
Shan: That was your first year?
Mr Henry: Yeah!
Shan: I thought you were like… oh I didn’t know that, wow
Mr Henry: I was trying to make myself appear more confident, experienced and knowledgeable in front of you.
Shan: Yes you definitely did, a very natural teacher
I: So what was your first year of teaching like?
Mr Henry: It was challenging. I think the first term was tough, just getting used to the other teachers, students and the school, knowing where to go. You guys know you gotta plan your movements very strategically, especially if you’re going from the 300s to the 600s, that can be a nightmare. I always go downstairs (from the 300s) and then back up (to the 600s), so that was challenging. I guess just getting confident, getting confidence in the classroom in front of students, that takes time.
Ruwan: Have you had to walk from EBSS to the portables yet?
Mr Henry: No, I haven’t!
Ruwan: Lucky!
Mr Henry: I haven’t had any classes in the portables, but I walk from EBSS to, well I did, to 713 a lot, and that was always hard.
I: Back in high school, what was your most favourite and least favourite subject?
Mr Henry: I really loved maths, I was pretty strong at maths. I feel like when you understand something, you enjoy it, so I enjoyed maths. What did I not enjoy…
Shan: Chem.
Mr Henry: Chem was good, I liked chem. Media, I also loved media. I think media and maths were my favourites. What did I dislike the most? Trying to think early days… Drama probably wasn’t for me, I just wasn’t good at drama. I didn’t like music that much either, even though I love music now and I play guitar and sing in a band. But I didn’t like music when I was in year 7 and 8, but strangely the tables have turned.
I: Speaking of your band, are you still in it?
Mr Henry: Yeah! We are actually. We’re doing some new tunes this year, hopefully. I’ve been doing some home recording things. I haven’t played for a couple of years with my band, so yeah, a little bit of a comeback. Do you guys play any instruments or are you in any bands?
Ruwan: The bassoon and clarinet, it’s so much fun
Mr Henry: Wow! I used to play trombone, in year 7. I went to school at De La Salle, an all boys cathlic school in Malvern, the east side of town near Caulfield. And I grew up in the West, so I had to take an hour and fifteen minute train there and back. I spent a bit of time travelling to and from school. So when I got the trombone, it was probably bigger than me! I think I stopped playing it because I couldn’t be bothered carrying it around, but I wish I had continued. Wind instruments are really cool and when you get older you wish to play as many as possible.
Shan: So how did you manage that? Especially with peak hour, the train gets so packed!
Mr Henry: I used to get the morning train and the afternoon train. I think that 60% of the train would be school kids. You’d have students from other schools and friends that you knew from primary school, so we were all sort of used to it, and then it just became what I did. You just get used to that sort of thing, but looking back now, it was a lot of time.
I: What was your dream job as a kid?
Mr Henry: As a highschool student I wanted to be a musician, a songwriter… I think after that I just changed my mind especially during the last years of high school and the start of uni. I started doing veterinary science then changed to pharmacy and ended up doing teaching. As a kid I don’t remember being like ‘I wanna do this, I wanna do that’.
I: What’s your favourite musical?
Mr Henry: Wicked. When I went travelling to the UK, I went to four shows. I did two in one day: I saw Billy Elliot - which was pretty good, Wicked - which I loved, then I saw The Lion King - which was okay, and Matilda The Musical which was amazing - really good. I love musicals haha. I was hoping to see Hamilton but it’s a bit expensive.
Shan: Do you have Disney+? They put Hamilton on there.
Mr Henry: Haha yeah I do. I’ve been watching a bit recently like last week I was watching Finding Nemo.
I: Favourite movie?
Mr Henry: Ah yes, I’m a movie buff. I love them - I used to go to Blockbusters.
I would spend around an hour and a half every Saturday afternoon at the video store. It’s actually pretty funky because now it’s just netflix and you can just pick whatever you want. Even with Netflix it takes me a long time to choose a movie. Anyways, I love The Grand Budapest Hotel - it’s a really cool film. My favourite childhood movie is Hook with Robin Williams. It’s got a really good film soundtrack by John Williams. He also composed the film score for movies like Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Jaws - he does all the really famous movie scores.
I: Who do you look up to in life and in school?
Mr Henry: I think I look up to my parents definitely. Just their relationship and also the people they are - the qualities they sort of taught me. In school, I look up to Sarah Cashin and Kate Nicholls. They’re good people and I look up to them because they’re amazing teachers and hard workers so definitely those two.
I: Do you have any artists and/or songs that you’re currently obsessed with?
Mr Henry: I love Fleet Foxes, they're my favourite. So they released an album called ‘Shore’ last year during Covid lockdown 2.0 for us - and that was a saviour and I listened to that alot. I also love LP - he’s fantastic, he’s American and has such an amazing voice. I’ve been in love with him lately.
I: Do you think your taste in music has changed over the years?
Mr Henry: Surprisingly no. I’ve always loved Rip-Rock and Folk-Like. I grew up listening to Oasis and Cat Stevens - he’s a 70s Folk Singer, and I still listen to them both, I love them. And for new bands most of them are not too far out of that genre.
I: What’s your favorite book or a book you’d recommend to students?
Mr Henry: Jasper Jones is a really good book. It’s probably in one of the English classes. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is quite good, I liked that. But yeah, I haven’t read as much over the past years.
I: Apart from Tasmania, what other places have you travelled to before?
Mr Henry: I’ve been to a few places in Australia, I’ve been to Darwin and East Armen land a few years ago which was amazing. I remember East Armen land was really remote. I’ve been to Europe twice, I’ve been to Poland, Germany, Hungary which was super fun. My partner has polish heritage so we went and visited his grand-parents and they couldn’t speak english, so I had to try and speak a bit of polish hahaha. I’m not very good at polish but I try. And last year, just before covid, we went to New York and Canda. Oooh and I’ve been to New Zealand.
I: Do you have a favourite cuisine from some of the countries which you’ve travelled to?
Mr Henry: Yes, I’ll go with Bigos from Poland. It sort of translates to hunters stew, and what it is, it’s like sauerkraut stew with little bits of sausage and mushroom. It’s cooked really slowly and like the more you leave it in the fridge and reheat it, the better the flavour. Hahah it sounds really weird, and at your age I would’ve been like no way, so I can imagine you guys being like what the hell is this and I understand hahahaha.
I: It sounds like it would be really tasty on a really cold day!
Mr Henry: Yeah it’s very hearty, and a nice comfort food.
I: If you could give one piece of advice to a student, what would you say to them?
Mr Henry: I think, do your best, and your best is enough. My partner always shows me amazing quotes and things, and Winne the Pooh quotes are really good so something along those lines. Yeah so don’t stress, be yourself and do your best
I: Can you give a quick summary of what EI is? (Extended Investigation)
Mr Henry: EI is a research subject. You design, and create your own research question and you can choose any topic you like, preferably something that you are really interested in. After you’ve designed a question, you do more research and more reading and then conduct your experiment. Luckily you get to spend the whole year doing this, so you will become experts by then. It’s tricky, but it’s really good!!
I: What’s your favourite thing about EI?
Mr Henry: My favourite thing about EI is the growth of students. So at the start of the year, students are pretty overwhelmed with it cause it’s something really new, and something really big. And some of them feel a bit lost which is fine, and then at the end of the year, they’ve written a 4000 word report on their topic of choice. And that’s a really cool progress to be able to witness!!
I: Man Ei sounds so hard!
Mr Henry: It’s not as hard as getting your question, Once your question comes, and you have that momentum it gets a bit easier.
I: If you were stranded on an island, with one other science teacher, who would it be?
Mr Henry: Hmmm, I’d have to go with Mr Coleman (BAE). He’s a bit organised, calm and I think he would like to sort out everything.
I: Who do you tag next?
Mr Henry: Mr Attard.
Thank you Mr Henry for your time !!