Daily variety in the classroom is a fountain of youth for Mike Morosin
By Fred Michah Rynor
“It’s certainly a surprise,” says Michael Morosin, recipient of OISE’s 2013 Award for Excellence in Continuing Education. An Additional Qualifications Instructor in Continuing and Professional Learning (and current Guidance Counselor with the Peel District School Board), this much-admired educator admits he’s “humbled and honoured because OISE is an incredible institution with such amazing faculty. The real honour is being able to work with them.”
Morosin returned to OISE in 2008 after having graduated from the Faculty of Education back in 1990 and he's taught the Guidance AQ Parts 1, 2 and 3 both online and in class.
As well as his OISE experience, he’s been at Thomas Street Middle School in Mississauga since 1998 and has been a summer school and night school teacher specializing in math and science for grades five to eleven.
“What I love most about teaching is the daily interactions with students – that’s what we should all be in this for. The joy of simply being in the classroom continues to inspire me.”
Morosin particularly enjoys the classroom leadership activities he’s involved with such as the student parliament, an upcoming ‘Pink Day’ for LGBTQ understanding and youth awareness lessons on global issues.
“The two most important and inspiring things that made me want to teach are my days as a camp counselor as a teen and my time at OISE,” and he particularly remembers one of his OISE professors, Carol Rolheiser.
“She conducted a pilot program that seems to have been a precursor to the concurrent education program, maximizing the time teaching candidates spent in schools and not in lectures.” he recalls. “It’s because of her that we were able to participate in actual classes and learn teaching strategies we wouldn’t ordinarily be exposed to sitting in a row of desks looking at a blackboard.”
Teaching, he believes, is one of the professions where the older you get, the more effective you can be.
“The nice thing about being an ‘elder’ is you know who you are and that confidence helps students relate to you in a positive way. They know you’ve seen a lot and experienced a lot and know what you’re talking about. I’m preparing them for life … not just for math.”
Morosin, now 47, feels strongly that teaching actually keeps him young by instilling “not only a youthful mindset and constant exposure to new ideas but the fact that every day is different. You never know what’s coming in the door and my morning usually begins before I even get my coat off.”
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