Life beyond Radford
Raiph McPherson
What does life look for you now?
Living and teaching in Perth, WA via Canberra, Canada and Adelaide. I imagine that the majority of people reading this are my current students stalking me online. If so, hello!
Tell us what you are passionate about?
Teaching, mathematics, and dismantling the A-E reporting system.
When you were young, what were you hoping to be when you grew up?
A maths teacher, sounds made up but it's true!
What is your favourite Radford moment?
When Mr. Smith left our Specialist Maths class unattended while he went to Belconnen to buy a birthday cake for one of our classmates.
Do you have a particular role model or inspirational figure from Radford or now?
Mr. Sanders and Mr. Ellison were gentlemen in the purest sense and were humble in their teaching.
How easy was it to decide what to do in life?
Easy. I always wanted to be a maths teacher and I made it. 16 years in and still loving it!
"Work, to be pleasant, must be toward some great end, an end so great that dreams of it, anticipation of it overcomes all aversion to labor." -Edwin Hubble
Did your further study or career go exactly as you'd planned?
Yes. 3 year BSc, 1 year DipEd and 2 year MSc. Teaching has enabled me to travel to Canada, Adelaide and now Perth without interruption.
What do you know now, that you wish you'd known when you were at Radford?
Awards don't matter. It's how you feel about what you've done.
"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce." -Thich Nhat Hanh
What advice do you have for current students?
The score you get on a test, or the letter grade you get on a report doesn't matter. Awards and numbers don't matter. There is no quantitative way of measuring the value of a person. Just do your best and be pleased with that, but remember that your best is far beyond what you think is possible.
