Teacher-to-be transforms others

Mentor and tutor helping students be their best

Thank you, Mr Muddle. The dedication of this high school maths teacher had a big impact on Avondale science teacher-in-training Louise Huang. She wanted to be a doctor but, with COVID on the mind, wondered about some of the associated risks. “He asked if I’d consider teaching. ‘No way,’ I said. Then I realised how much he and my other teachers encouraged and inspired me.”

Louise struggled with physics and wanted to drop it but another teacher helped her see the subject as a personal challenge, from which she developed stronger character. “I was like, ‘Wow! This is so transformational. Now I want to give other students the same experience.”

She already is. As a private tutor, Louise is helping students not only academically but also personally with skills such as time management. And when students return to school after lockdown, she’ll continue serving as a Kids Hope mentor, spending one hour a week developing a child’s emotional and social resilience. “I’m matched with a sweet Year 4 boy, who’s a bit behind in his study. He just wants to play, so I make learning fun.” Louise created a scavenger hunt by hiding numbers around the classroom. “He loved it and totally didn’t realise he was doing maths.”

The Kids Hope model is built on a long-term partnership between a local school and church. Elim in West Gosford is Louise’s church. She’s on the worship team and helps in children’s ministry, but with online-only services for the past few months, she’s been up at 7 am and on YouTube for the church’s weekday prayer meeting. “It feels so good to be connected if not in person then in spirit.”

Louise values both. As captain at a Christian school, she helped run chapel. “It was pretty dry before I took over, so I brought in songs with actions and games. Everyone got into it, which changed the whole atmosphere and attitude to God.”

Choosing science as a teaching speciality is a good fit for Louise’s faith. “When Mr Muddle shared that Galileo quote with us, ‘Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe,’ it had a profound affect on my perspective and passion. I love seeing how maths and physics interrelate—physics is describing the world using maths. We take so much intricate design for granted,” which she doesn’t want her students doing. We need to be aware of what we’re taught, she says, otherwise “we’ll believe anything anyone tells us.”

Louise took her own advice, enrolling in the Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Teaching course not only on the recommendation of the career advisor at school—an alumna of Avondale—but also on the university’s reputation for having small class sizes. Receiving a Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship may have also influenced Louise’s decision. “I loved the tight-knit community at school and that’s exactly what I found at Avondale. Everyone knows everyone.” Louise is completing one unit at another university and notices the difference. “There’s just so many people in each lecture and I feel the lecturers aren’t as approachable. But here, I’m not afraid to chime in during a Zoom meeting because I know my lecturers are willing to help.”