Teacher Tuesday : Mr Curtis Baxter
This week we feature Mr Baxter who teaches Chemistry and Science in the Secondary Department and is the current Sapi House mentor. His interests revolve around sport and fitness, in particular, playing and watching basketball. Find out more about Mr Baxter in this week’s Teacher Tuesday!
How many years have you been in teaching and where have you taught?
This will be my 5th year teaching. I have previously taught two years in the UK, in Sheffield and Rotherham and two years in Moscow, Russia.
How would you describe the KIS community?
The KIS community is a close, strong, charitable community. I have enjoyed the events so far that bring everyone together, such as International Day.
The school celebrated International Day on the 3rd October. What was your best memory of that day?
I have a lot of great memories. It was good to see a large number of different national dresses. I also enjoyed the activities, even getting soaking wet due to the sponge the teacher stall. However, I enjoyed the food the most. There was a diverse range of well prepared food and I can not wait to try more next year.
You signed up for the role of a House mentor at the beginning of this year. What does this involve?
I believe the role of a House mentor is to motivate my house to achieve the best they possibly can be and to get as many pupils participating as possible. I am hoping Sapi can win it all this year. I also plan to bring some new house events to KIS such as “KIS bakeoff” which I will hopefully start next term.
Chemistry is said to be a challenging subject to learn. What are your tips for students and how can parents help their children nurture their love for chemistry / science subjects?
Chemistry is not as difficult as some pupils believe it is. It may seem daunting at first as many of the concepts are new. My tips for students would be to take your time with new content and ideas and to learning definitions, try not to get some ideas confused with each other, for example, covalent and ionic bonding.
My tips for nurturing someone’s love for Science would be to keep up to date with current scientific news. This will include a lot of the content covered in Science topics in all year groups and will increase a student’s appreciation for the subject. This can be done by reading articles, listening to podcasts or watching videos.
Do you have a Sabah bucket list? Share the Top 3 on the list with us
I am already well underway in my Sabah bucket list.
- Climb Mt. Kinabalu.
- See wildlife on the Kinabatangan River – Done !
- Try scuba diving and become a fully qualified diver. – Partial
If you could be a superhero for a day, who would you be and why?
I would be the ‘Flash’. I would be able to see as much of the world as possible. I would also not come second in the sports day events (again).
