Faculty Friday: Paul Sperry - Upper School Science
"Don’t learn about the world through someone else’s eyes, including popular culture and the media...go see it for yourself and find your own truth." Paul Sperry.
Paul Sperry joined Rabun Gap in 2014 as the Chair of the Science Department. Prior to Rabun Gap, he taught science at the International School Nido de Aquilas (Santiago, Chile), International School of Beijing, Zurich International School, and Carpinteria Middle School near Santa Barbara, California. He holds a Biology degree from California State University at Humboldt and a Master's degree in Education from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He and his wife, Virginia, have two daughters, Juniper ’27 and 3-year-old Laurel.
Why did you decide to become a teacher? I love learning and sharing that learning with talented and open-minded young people. It’s a career that’s full of discovery, diversity, challenge, growth, youthfulness, and fun!
What is your teaching philosophy? I deeply believe that all people can learn and grow, that making “mistakes” or being confused is a natural and indeed, normal, part of learning and growing; that our greatest growth and understanding comes from times of greatest challenge. I also believe that to learn for understanding requires the desire of the learner, a desire that can only be sparked if the learning is relevant, intriguing, and fun, the latter of which comes from doing!
What are the qualities of an excellent teacher? An excellent teacher brings the learner to the place where personal discovery begins. Sometimes called the “proximal zone of development”, this is the borderland where the learner seemingly discovers their understanding as opposed to being told. Knowing where this zone is for each student requires experience, sensitivity, and a focus on the student’s unique background and qualities. Content knowledge, enthusiasm, flexibility, creativity, experience and congeniality are all complementary qualities of an excellent educator.
What is the most difficult aspect of teaching today? The most challenging aspect of teaching today is that there aren’t 48 hours in a day, particularly at a boarding school where there are so many opportunities to learn, teach and grow! More seriously, in the dynamic world in which we live, one in which information and skills can be transmitted so easily to the individual, teachers are most challenged to grow with their students’ needs and find new roles and ways of teaching, often in contrast to the way they were taught.
Describe the "worst" lesson you have taught. What did you learn from it? Golly, I tend not to focus on the worst of anything as it doesn’t seem particularly helpful, except in humor! This said, a growth-oriented educator should always reflect on their craft and be committed to change when engagement and learning isn’t occurring. I certainly feel successful as an educator when the students have been doing the doing rather than me.
What is the greatest success you have had in teaching? There’s nothing more satisfying for a teacher than to have a past student say hello, in person or online, and enthusiastically share their current life and appreciate something learned or done in your class. That suggests that you touched and I suppose changed them in some positive way. Of course watching a young person you’ve come to know over the years walk across the stage at graduation and into their future is also a pretty wonderful feeling!
Which after school activity/sports do you coach at Rabun Gap? I have proudly coached MS cross country and MS tennis for the past four years. I enjoy getting to know our younger student-athletes before they arrive at the Upper School and continue our relationship as they become young adults.
What do's and don’ts would you like to share as a well-travelled person? Don’t learn about the world through someone else’s eyes, including popular culture and the media...go see it for yourself and find your own truth! And when you do travel, do it lightly, considerately, openly, and authentically (i.e. as simply as possible: on your feet and a shoestring).
What interests do you pursue outside of the classroom? There is no place where you can most discover yourself than under your own power on land, air, and water. In search of self I bicycle, canoe, kayak, hike, run, camp, climb, and swim (as for the air, I’d like to add paragliding to that list in the near future :)
What’s the most interesting thing about you that we wouldn’t learn from your resume alone? Well...I did bike across the U.S. once...and France, and Ireland, and Scotland, and Norway, and Sweden, and Denmark, and Switzerland, and Japan...all followed by the ~5,261 miles logged on the RGNS campus on that silly little folding bike! Another thing I think is kind of cool is that my wife and I were some of the first people to sea kayak/camp for a month and a half around the remote Philippine Island of Palawan in the South China Sea. I would admit that it was just beyond our “proximal zone of development”!
If you could choose one amenity to add to the workplace, what would it be? Do you think Dr. Sgro would go for replacing afternoon tutorials with naptime and be OK with a hammock between the oak trees outside my office?
Anything you would like to add?
Looking out at my classes and the mountains each day, I feel blessed to have landed in this truly unique community of caring, diverse, and talented adults and young people, nestled in one of the most beautiful and rich natural settings on the planet...wow, how fortunate is that!
Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School
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Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School is a private, coeducational day and boarding school for grades Pre-K through 12. Centrally located between Atlanta, GA, Greenville, SC, and Asheville, NC, we prepare young people for college, career, and a lifetime of leadership and service.
