I never liked doing “seat of the pants” stuff, as Tony Macoun would put it, but that’s how it was being an administrator with a full-time teaching job. I ended up in administration because I was good at making lists. This isn’t really true, I was good at using a computer to make lists. It’s not that difficult really but don’t tell anyone. A few basic ideas about how things relate to one another and you’re off. Simpler than physics, no equations between the relationships.

I remember commenting to a young teacher, Mark Pulfer I think it was,” preparation is cheating”. Sorry Mark hope you never took my advice. Having worn through the seat of several pairs of pants I decided that my days as list maker were over.

I became a teacher because I liked teaching. Another lie. I became a teacher because my dad got me the job, anyway it certainly wasn’t a love of lists that brought me into the profession. No more lists meant more time to think about teaching. Students I taught in my “list years” may not realise it, but I wasn’t thinking about physics much between classes. With a SMART board I could see where we left off last lesson and simply continue.

I’ve always produced all my own resources, in the early days it was with Banda and Gestetner. Banda was my favourite because you could handwrite on the skins. Get some of that blue stuff behind your nail and by the end of the day your whole body would be blue. Text books were for students, never really used one until I wrote one. “It’s cheating, Mark”. Producing tests and homework sheets for students is a thankless task. I once spent about 100 hours copying exam questions into a database, no one thanked me, in fact few students even looked at it. Opening it up to the world made it all worthwhile – tens of thousands of eager minds desperate to get some additional help.

I remember English teacher Brian Kern doing some writing. He said it was for fun. I laughed. Well it’s polite to laugh when someone cracks a joke. He wasn’t joking. How can it be fun to write? I discovered by writing a blog, it’s still online, mainly stories about going to the toilet and climbing. A publisher came across it and asked me to write a book. Not sure how stories about my friend who had shoes that never wore out gave her the idea that I could write a text book but it did.

To write the first book I just sat down and pretended I was faced with all my previous students, what would they ask me and how would I answer. Maybe I should’ve looked up some facts but I didn’t. Learnt my lesson for the second edition. Pants wearing thin again.

An eagle just flew past my window, long hours at the computer are made possible with a view like that. You don’t have to be outside to be outside in Fjaler.

One of the great things about teaching in international education is the workshops. Paris, Barcelona, Berlin. At Atlantic College there was a chemistry teacher called Geoff Neuss: he wrote books, chemistry students will know that. He also ran workshops for teachers, off to different cities all the time. I wanted to be the Geoff Neuss of physics.

I thought leading workshops for physics teachers would be difficult but it’s not, teachers all know what it’s like to be out there and appreciate the effort you put into preparing material. I had lots to share so made a simple website. Love at first site. I never thought anyone would pay for it but they did and now 510 schools share the material produced in my study at Haugland. You do need a certain level of confidence; it’s like climbing a hard route. If you don’t think you’re good enough nobody else will. I was once having a particularly hard time on a climb in France and shouted, “Come on, you’re supposed to be Chris Hamper!” It took some time before my friends stopped repeating that one.

I was extremely well-prepared, had been teaching the same stuff for years, loved being in front of the crowd, make them laugh and the physics goes down more easily. We all make the odd mistake and go blank now and again, but when it happens too often the confidence starts to go and everything goes to pot, electrical circuits become spaghetti and equations won’t stay still long enough to rearrange them.

In a way discovering I had Parkinson’s disease was a relief. Phew, at least I don’t have some incurable, degenerative neurological illness. Just a minute – I do! Well it was a relief anyway. Parkinson’s is well known for making you shake, walk with a stoop and have an angry looking face, but did you know it makes your handwriting small? I don’t think I’ve got to that stage yet. When I do, everyone will get small Christmas cards. Yeah, like I ever write Christmas cards.

There is a lot of nonphysical stuff associated with Parkinson’s, and it all gets worse when even a little bit stressed. It’s hard turning up for class when you cried in front of them yesterday, but I don’t intend to give up that easily so set about creating a digital guide through the course. All I have to do is be there to set up equipment, answer questions and mark tests. The physics they learn by making observations, doing experiments, building simulations and solving problems. It took about 4 hours to prepare each hour of lesson time, but now it’s done. My job is to set the scene, make it a good learning environment, be there when needed but don’t worry if not. Not as easy as it sounds.

When you get used to working long hours, it’s difficult to stop. Finishing one project leaves time for another. I used to do some private tutoring, always start with a problem.

A boy throws a ball off a cliff with velocity………
What’s a cliff?
What’s velocity?
What do you mean by a vector?
Why is the height negative?

I always end up giving the answer when I should be alluding to it. Explaining the physics that’s needed without the spoiler. Not enough patience. How about a virtual tutor? A set of web pages leading through the steps in the solution with diversions to get explanations where necessary.

We had to build our own editor interface but after almost exactly a year, just as my Vimeo subscription expired, it’s finished. The people in the drawings aren’t random they are my present students. They don’t realise it but they help me make it.

Next project is “Piglics” the whole syllabus explained with pigs, but that’s another story.

For profiles and news of other students, staff and alumni, click here.

There are very few people who, after other prestigious academic achievements, continue to list their high school education on their résumés and profiles. In my case, the Red Cross Nordic United World College (RCNUWC) was not simply a high school, it was a place that transformed my life and restored my hope for a life better than the one I was dealt as a child who grew up in war. This is why all my other education is a footnote to Flekke.

I went to Norway after surviving the Liberian and Sierra Leonean civil wars and living as a refugee in Guinea. My life had been a persistent struggle as a result of conflict and poverty. When I got to Flekke in 2002, orientation for new students was over, but it was obvious that my classmates had been eagerly awaiting my arrival. It was past midnight when the van that took me and another latecomer (Kipsy, Swaziland) to Flekke, but dozens of students had stayed up to welcome us. My roommates had baked a cake and my second year from Sierra Leone, Leonard, had decorated the corner that would be my space. We stayed up for at least two more hours, discussing my journey and the lives of my roommates: Talha (Pakistan), Horacio (Uruguay), Tormod (Norway), and Erik (Sweden). From the information material I had received, I had envisioned RCNWUC as a wonderful institution, but sitting in my room that first night, exchanging stories with students who spoke as though they had known me forever, made me realize that the school was greater than I had imagined.

My education before Norway had been in a refugee school system established by the International Rescue Committee and at the Sierra Leone Grammar School. As a result of limited resources, I had very little background in the sciences, unlike other African students who came from relatively stable countries. Therefore, I took an academic path in Flekke that was not usually traveled by other African students. I registered for Philosophy, Theatre Arts, Maths (Standard), Environment Science, and English Higher Level. Other Africans studied higher level sciences and almost all of them took Development Studies. It felt like my failure to take Development Studies kept me on the margins of the inner circle of our Ghanean teacher, Daniel and his wife Barbara, but these two always found a way to share their love and parent me.

I arrived in Flekke as a nervous young man, lacking confidence, and afraid of taking chances. My philosophy teacher, Aseem Shrivastava, taught me that it is not the “truth” that really matters, but the journey in the quest for “truth.” Maria Teresa (MT), my English teacher, made me understand that her love for me came with a high expectation of academic performance—and playing Okonkwo. When I hugged MT goodbye on my last day in Flekke, she said: “I look forward to seeing you in the newspapers, Joseph.” As I turned to leave, she added: “Just not in the criminal section!” Every time I came close to being bad in college, I envisaged MT’s disappointed expression as she comes face-to-face with a mugshot of me in the criminal section of the Saratogian. This thought was enough to keep me grounded.

Nothing prepared me for activism better than Peter Wilson’s Theatre Arts class. Pete is not a pedantic teacher, so we were allowed to improvise until we were collectively satisfied with our level of artistic expression. This class also allowed me to pursue my interest in studying Wole Soyinka’s Market Theatre. I chose Theatre Arts as my course for the dreaded Extended Essay. I enjoyed Pete’s sense of humor and his willingness to leave room for all students to contribute.

I was academically and socially behind many of my classmates in Flekke, so I participated in activities that improved my skills. I did my required service in the library not only to help others find books, but to grant myself ample time to read. My service as a lifeguard at the Haugland Rehabilitation Centre also allowed me to improve my swimming skills. MT and I started a new service to keep our laundry clean. Cleaning other people’s underpants and socks left in the laundry room was a messy job, but I found it humbling, and a relevant training.

Though I never became an expert skier – even with the help of Ski Week, or a promising Norwegian Folk dancer (I kicked the hat out of a window during hallingdansen), I was selected to join our team that went to Ridderrennet as volunteers and performers. In later years, I would brag about performing for the Queen of Norway there. I was also a member of the Human Rights club. My major role in the Human Rights club was to coordinate a weekly Amnesty International letter writing on behalf of Prisoners of Conscience. This service was personal because I had been a child prisoner during the Liberian war. It often made me wonder whether my time in jail would have been shorter had citizens around the world written to their leaders on my behalf.

When I launched Save the Future Generation (SaFuGe) at RCNUWC to help children affected by war in Sierra Leone, I thought it wouldn’t survive when I left. But the students that came after, with the help of MT, have continued to make me proud. I visit the website every year to read about their annual projects, which now have root in several countries. A small organization established to help the children I left behind in a war-ravaged country has now become a tool for RCNWUC students to shape the lives of people in need in other places around the world. I remain grateful to Henrieke (Netherlands), Nikolai (Denmark), and our late friend, Jonas (Norway), for their help in the early stages of SaFuGe.

Moreover, the knowledge I received from the World Today, Global Concerns, Film Night, and Project-Based Learning week, had a great impact on me. I replicated some of these ideas in college and even became head of my Model United Nations, Model European Union, and International Affairs clubs. My experiences at RCNUWC prepared me for the study of International Relations and International Law in the United States. I have recently published a book, Free Slaves, Freetown, and the Sierra Leonean Civil War (Palgrave Macmillan 2017), in which I explore the history of Sierra Leone and the legacy of slavery in that country.

I am grateful for the friends I made at RCNUWC, my mentors Alistair and Lesley Robertson, my second year roommates, Siim (Estonia), Bastian (Denmark), Niko (Germany), and Bo (China). My heartfelt gratitude goes to my first year roommates. Nothing illustrates our love better than the unanimous pact to wake up, every morning throughout our year in the same room, to Boris Gardiner’s track, I wanna wake up with you. I play this song from time to time, to remind me of you, and to take me back to that small village in Norway where human diversity and world peace are a reality.

For profiles and news of other students and alumni, click here.