Mr. Terry McDonald

Mr. Terry McDonald was born and raised in Hamilton before relocating to Europe, where he spent three formative years in Germany during Grades 8, 9 and 10 when his father was seconded to teach secondary school at the Canadian Forces Base in Lahr, Germany (at the time, West Germany). This experience opened Mr. McDonald’s eyes to the wonders of travel and the value of experiencing different cultures and perspectives.

 

After teaching Geography with the Waterloo Board for nine years at Cameron Heights and Forest Heights, Mr. McDonald and his family took advantage of a unique teaching opportunity at an International School in Arusha, Tanzania that catered to local Tanzanians. After four wonderful years of what he regards as an “extended professional and field experience”, he and his family moved to Chelmsford, England where he taught Years 7 to A level Geography. Three years later found the three of them back home again in Guelph and teaching at SJK.

 

His motto is, "Doing is learning". Mr. McDonald brings this philosophy to the classroom, whether it's experiential learning at Bark Lake or looking at rocks or assessing population changes using GIS, and extends it to outside the classroom with field trips and overseas experiences that get students involved in the world around them. He believes that knowing facts is no longer good enough, rather, doing something with that information to improve the world is the future of education.