About the Author

Brenton Stacey

Brenton is Avondale University’s Public Relations and Philanthropy Officer. He brings to the role experience as a communicator in publishing, media relations, public relations, radio and television, mostly within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific and its entities.

Sharee helps teachers-in-training be their best

Our primary teaching course convenor Sharee Tagala tried not to become a teacher but would invariably find herself in teaching-type roles: training staff at work, leading a Bible study at church, coaching gymnastics as a hobby. A stint as a gymnastics director at a summer camp in California finally convinced her to make teaching a career. The decision—and her education degree from Avondale—has taken Sharee all over the world. Traveling solo for five months through multiple countries “taught me about my resilience and my ability to live with very little.” We asked her some questions. These are her answers.

What one characteristic makes a great teacher?
Passion. If you have passion for being the best teacher you can be, it will pervade everything—what you do in class, the excitement you bring to learning, the relationships you form with your students.

What’s one thing we wouldn’t know about what you do in your role?
Since I convene the undergraduate and postgraduate courses, I get to meet students from diverse backgrounds and guide them as they embark on training for their first degree or for a career change.

How do you define success in the role?
Helping students be successful. I enjoy helping them navigate their way through the primary teaching courses, and I love seeing them march at graduation. I feel very connected to the students and their success.

How do you like to spend your time away from work?
I spend time with my family in nature. We moved about a year ago from California, and we love Australian wildlife—except for the snake I found in our laundry one day.

What are you reading?
How to Save the World with a Chicken and an Egg, a novel by Emma Shevah about animals, friendship, family and the environment.

Encourage us with a piece of advice or a life motto.
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising every time we fall.” That’s a Confucius quote. In my classrooms, I work hard to develop a safe place culture where it’s OK to make mistakes. It’s by making mistakes that we learn, and it’s by rising and trying again that we grow.

Complete this sentence: “My greatest love in life is . . . ”
My family. I feel blessed to have my family with me on this life adventure. I enjoy showing my American husband and my 10-year-old twins the amazing flora and fauna right on our doorstep here at Avondale.

Study teaching at Avondale

Do you know someone who wants to become a teacher? Studying teaching at Avondale will give them the practical experience, skills and networks they need to teach in schools in Australia and overseas. #1 in graduate satisfaction. Commonwealth-supported places available.

DOWNLOAD COURSE GUIDE