James Gibson, Industrial Arts Teacher

Satisfying work

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'I like the fact that I can teach kids different things they might not have been able to use. They might come into the shop, scared to use a certain machine and then they leave and they're perfectly fine with it.

"I had a student who went to Take Your Kids to Work Day. She wrote a report that she actually used something that she learned in school in electronics that had a connection for her, which was really good."

Images from my workplace

Where I work

I work at St. Paul's Collegiate, which is a fairly rural school in Elie, Manitoba. We have approximately 210 students and they range from grade 7 to grade 12. There are approximately 20 teaching staff plus 6 or 7 educational assistants.

Because the school so small, I know all the students and I also know a lot of the parents. The school is very unique in that respect. It's very community based.

Articulate actor

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"Basically you're an actor all day. They say teaching is 90 percent acting and 10 percent everything else. Whether I start off with a joke or something, I try and grab their attention.

"You have to be very articulate. You might explain something one way to a student and then they'll go, "What?", and you have to rethink what you just said and re-explain it, not by just raising your voice and saying it louder."

Key tasks

My key responsibilities are to plan and deliver the curriculum in Industrial Arts to Grades 7 through 12, as well as Grade 8 Social Studies and Grade 12 World Issues.

I also have to monitor the school to make sure students have a safe place to be and that they have a safe learning environment.

Plan lessons

At the beginning of the year I go through the courses to see what I'm going to do. Because this is my first year I'm planning day by day. I know what's going to happen next month but I don't know how I'm going to do it.

Often I'll go on the Internet and find out what other teachers have done. Teachers in my school have been helpful too. The Grade 8 Socials teacher from last year shared her course information with me.

Talk with parents

I talk with parents fairly regularly. When they're in the school I stop and chat. We just had our parent/teacher interviews so I was able to meet a few more of them.

I don't only contact parents with bad news. If a student does extremely well, I'll call home or email and let the parents know. If a student who has had some issues changes their behaviour, I'll call home again and tell their parents.

Life outside school

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"Weekends I try not to do any work at all. I cut myself off in the week too. At 7:00, I'm done, I need my time. Otherwise I'll go insane.

I was told by a lot of professors and instructors, the best teachers are the ones who have lives outside of school. Their job isn't their life. It's only one aspect. At school, kids know a little bit about my personal life because I believe it helps them see me as a person."

Stable family life

My family moved here from England when I was thirteen because my parents wanted better opportunities for my brother and me.

My brother and I were brought up in a very family oriented atmosphere. We had a house, dog and cat and went on family vacations. We were very grounded. My dad is a chef and my mom was a homemaker while we were growing up. She worked a lot in our schools too as well, supervising and doing other things.

Money was tight

England had a recession in the early 90's and my dad and mom both lost their jobs. We spent a year on welfare trying to get by. They picked up odd jobs wherever they could.

Fortunately, it got better and my dad had the opportunity and the funding to go back to school and get higher qualifications. When he finished that, he was able to get a better job.

Live with parents

My girlfriend and I got engaged this Christmas in Banff and we have a set a date in 2007 to get married. She works as a lab tech in a pharmaceutical company.

At the moment we both live with our parents, but we're looking forward to buying a house. Now that we are both working, we may be able to afford own home by the end of this year.

Skiing and biking

I spend a lot of time downhill skiing. I go to the mountains every Christmas to Banff, Panorama and other places. In the summer I do a lot of mountain bike riding. I do the MS Bike Tour, going from Stonewall to Gimli and back, to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis.

My girlfriend and I also do a lot of camping. Last year we went to Rushing River and a couple of years before that we went to Riding Mountain.

Busy start

"From ten to nine to 9:00 is spent in homeroom. I have the whole Grade 8 class, so there are 26 of them. That can be a challenge. They're very loud, very boisterous.

"Basically that involves going through attendance, different announcements, doing the Oh Canada thing, whatever comes up during the day, checking their agendas, making sure they've done their homework for their different classes."

Work before school

I like having something to do all the time. I usually get to work at 8:00 in the morning and I spend half an hour getting things ready for the day, photocopying or going into the lab and getting demos set up.

From 8:30 until ten to nine I have duty, where I go around the hallway to make sure nothing is going on that shouldn't be. I mingle with students when I'm there and find out what they did last night or did over the weekend.

Varying hours

My contact time with the kids is about six and a half hours a day, but the actual work time can range a lot. Some days it might not be very much and I might work a regular eight hours. Some other days I might work 10 to 12 hours.

At home, I can spend as much as two hours a night or ten hours a week, marking assignments and doing lesson prep.

Some flexibility

Outside of my contact with kids, I have some flexibility with my time. I can get time off if I need it and have a valid reason.

I can decide what I do during my prep time. I can also do what I want with my lunch hour because I don't have to see kids during that time. In the morning, I can show up early or I can show up a little later as long as I'm there. In the evening I can stay late, or I can leave right away.

Need Spring Break

I am glad to have Spring Break. The time from Christmas to Spring Break is long when you're dealing with 200 kids every day, and every one of them has different needs.

There is a lot of pressure when you have to create different programming for different students, or the Principal wants something or you have to do your marks. I can get overwhelmed sometimes, so it's good that the joy of doing this job outweighs that.

Creative approach

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"I don't do things conventionally. I don't stand and talk, I do a lot of different problem solving activities where it requires some thought.

'For Grade 8 Social, we looked at sources and evidence. Instead of getting some old sources or evidence from books, we went outside the staff parking lot and we tried to figure out whose cars belonged to who, just based on what we knew about each teacher. So we linked things differently."

Trained to do it all

I think the biggest misconception is that we're dirty shop teachers and we don't know anything. I'm qualified to teach from Kindergarten to Grade 12. I went through the same education process as every other teacher.

I have an advantage over a lot of teachers in regards to technology, to computers, printers, scanners, data projectors, smart boards, and any of those things. I know how to set them up and use them.

People skills needed

I am dealing with people and that's a huge challenge, because everyone's different. You always get students who have personality conflicts with you, who might not necessarily like you or like your style. And that's fine.

You might face challenges dealing with parents or administrators or other teachers that you don't get along with. In that way, it's like any other job.

Physical job

I'm on my feet close to 80% of the day so my job is a probably a lot more physical than most teaching jobs. Most of the day I spend running around, lifting a lot of wood and other heavy materials and moving them.

It's not a job where I can sit back and watch students work. Many students aren't confident enough to pick up a saw and make it cut. I have to be over them making sure that things are done safely and correctly.

Leave stress behind

I get stressed about students who are failing or aren't doing well and when nothing I try motivates them to do better. It happens more with my Grade 12's. Some just don't seem to care, and I think it's a huge deal. I can't understand why they would want to spend more time in high school than they have to.

I worry about all that but on the weekends I try to forget about it. Skiing or biking or going to the gym helps me with that.

Encouraged by teacher

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"I probably made this decision in Grade 11. I had a very good Graphics teacher who one day just pulled me aside and said "you know, you'd be good at this, consider it. I can help you with it. I can give you some pointers in what to do and if you need help, see me."

"I looked into it myself and thought, yeah, it won't be so bad. So it worked out. I like working with kids."

Love my subjects

I always liked doing things with my hands. The fact that I could learn some of those skills that could help me in my life as well as help other people really attracted me to the job.

When I was I high school I really enjoyed Chemistry, Graphics, and Power Mechanics. I also loved World Issues and Social Studies. It's interesting that a lot of those things are what I'm teaching now.

Huge learning curve

I graduated from high school and went straight into university into the Teacher Education Program. It's a joint integrated program with Red River and University of Winnipeg. I alternated my days, going to U of W one day, the next to Red River.

The program took five years and the learning curve was huge. I started off knowing nothing and left feeling quite competent.

Career Trek volunteer

I worked for Career Trek while I was studying to be a teacher. I worked with kids at risk of not moving on to post secondary. They came to the University of Winnipeg, Red River and University of Manitoba to try different things.

With me they did Construction Technology. We built CO2 cars and we raced them when parents came in on parent day. It was a very neat experience and eye opening to see all the different kids.

Most proud of

My greatest accomplishment so far was with a Grade 8 student who was struggling with her work. I sat down with her parents and we brainstormed what we were going to do.

I met with them again this past parent/teacher conference and her marks have gone up. She's more organized and everything has worked that we've implemented. It was really satisfying seeing a student's progression like that and seeing the parents so happy.

Huge demand

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"There is a huge demand for this profession right now. Everybody in Education seems to take English and History and they don't need those teachers.

"They need people who can teach music and who teach practical arts, especially Industrial Arts Teachers. Our graduating class was only 6 and all of us had jobs before we left. Each of us got about five phone calls during that summer asking if we wanted a job."

Personal plans

Besides buying a new car and a truck, I would like to have my own home, to be settled and eventually to have a family. Now I have the financial means to do it and to be fairly happy in my job.

I also plan to go back to school eventually to do my Master's in Education, probably in Administration.

Parent guidance

My parents have been a help to me right from the beginning. They guided me and when I stepped out of line and they got me back in line. They've been a huge influence on me.

You need those kinds of people in your life. If not your parents you need somebody else who can do that. If you don't have that, it's very hard to get through life.

Take 40S courses

Make sure you have your 40 S (grade 12 level) credits in Math and English and sciences. These will benefit you when you get to post secondary education. I took Applied Math and it worked out very well for what I do.

I took Chemistry and Physics and I've used both of them. I've used Chemistry for tree composition and drawing and Physics for problem solving.

Access to education

If I could make a difference in the world, I'd want to make sure that every child had access to both health care and education. I'd want to make sure that everyone would have the same opportunity to learn and to go to university or college.

I tell students who don't have the money not to give up, that it is possible to go to university even if you can't afford it. There are ways to get money, and I'd help them find those ways.

Job market info

The links below take you to federal and regional government information on employment, education, salary ranges and long range prospects for this career.

The official title for James' occupation is "Secondary School Teachers" and its NOC* code is 4141.

Manitoba Job Futures

Who Hires? - Manitoba Labour Market Information

*Each occupation has an official name and unique number called the 'National Occupation Classification' code or 'NOC'. 

Education

High School

Useful High School Subjects*

- English
- Math
- Social Studies
- Science
- Industrial Arts (added)

*Source: JobFutures.ca

For those out of school, Adult Learning Centres can help you get or upgrade your high school diploma, including adding subjects that are required for work or further education. All Manitobans are normally entitled to 4 free courses.

After high school 

University of Manitoba

Faculty of Education

University of Winnipeg

Faculty of Education

Collège universitaire de St. Boniface

Faculté d'éducation baccalauréat en éducation voie secondaire (deux ans)

Red River College

All Programs
Click on "Industrial Arts/Tech Teacher Ed"

Brandon University

Department of Education

Assiniboine Community College

Education Assistant Program

Skills

Useful Experience/Skills*

- Leadership
- Interpersonal skills
- Teamwork
- Curriculum familiarity

*Source: JobFutures.ca

There is not yet an Essential Skills* profile for this occupation.

*Essential Skills provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.

Professional resources

Manitoba Teacher's Society
Represents the 14,000 public school teachers in Manitoba

Technology Educators Association of Manitoba
An organization dedicated to promoting and serving the Industrial Arts and Technology community across Manitoba

Professional Certification Manitoba

Related careers

College and Other Vocational Instructors (NOC 4131)

Educational Counsellors (NOC 4143)

Elementary and Secondary School Teacher Assistants (NOC 6472)

Elementary School and Kindergarten Teachers (NOC 4142)

Teachers of non-academic or vocational courses (NOC 4216)

Instructors and Teachers of Persons with Disabilities (in NOC 4215)