TED Community » Ron Barton

About Me

At school I was disengaged, disinterested and distracted. There was never any doubt that I had talent, every report card I ever had said I could do anything if I just pulled up my socks and knuckled down a little. As such, when I said I wanted to be a teacher my year coordinator told me it would never happen because (up to that point) the only reason my name was known at school was because I was trouble. It took me a long time to break the bad habits I developed as a student and I still have to work on a few things.

This rocky beginning has informed the way I teach. I now actively seek interesting and engaging methods of content delivery and assessment to ensure that the students I work with don't fall into the same traps I did. Beyond that, I'm encouraging other staff to move their classrooms into the 21st Century so they can better accommodate the modern learner.

Outside of school I'm a father first and foremost. I also volunteer with Peel Thunder and I dabble in poetry - to the extent I have a book coming out soon titled If God is a Poet.