By Sarah Cipolla Many memories and words come to the mind when the name Mr. Singleton is heard. Some people think about his weekly essays, his British accent, his world travels, and his kind personality. With his impending retirement, staff and students will miss him walking through the hallways and spreading his joy. Mr. Singleton has been teaching English for about forty years. He started his work life in the police force in England. He decided that policing was not his ideal job, so he decided to take a teaching job where he was able to teach English to kids in less fortunate areas of the world. One place that was particularly memorable was at the MGM Major High School in Deadman’s Cay, Bahamas. Mr. Singleton spent the 1984-1985 school year teaching 250 students, grades 7-12, of all nationalities and racial backgrounds. Even though the children he taught were from lower income families, their enthusiasm for learning made teaching more entertaining and fun.
A few years later, Mr. Singleton came to Glenelg High School and has been here since the 1994-1995 school year. Since he has been at GHS, the school has changed. Besides the obvious developments to the infrastructure, like the new English and fine arts wings, there are less students from rural families. Glenelg has become more suburban and diverse. Another big change that came was with Advanced Placement courses which have become increasingly more important. Students have become more interested in taking higher level courses. With that being said, Mr. Singleton claims, “Glenelg is the same school, it’s a good place to be.” This year is bittersweet because he will miss “being in class with students, teaching literature, and enjoying doing it.” This year, his last year, he was nominated as Glenelg’s Teacher of the Year by the Senior class. He will be honored at graduation where he will give a few words of advice to the outgoing Senior class. Most importantly, Mr. Singleton explains, “It’s an honor and it makes me feel appreciated.” This recognition was a great way to end his teaching career. Mr. Singleton’s has a few words of advice to give future teachers. He would like teachers to know that they should spend time getting to know the students and letting students get to know each other. Specific to English classes, he says that teachers should have their students do a lot of writing because, “you can’t be a good writer if you don’t write a lot.” His last piece of advice was to teach something that you enjoy yourself because children will be more likely to listen and enjoy it too. Mr. Singleton has many plans for his retirement. He plans to travel the world with his wife, who is also retired, and his son. In September, he is traveling to Iceland and will continue onto Britain. A few places he hopes to travel to, where he has never been, are New Zealand and Australia. When he isn’t traveling the globe, he will spend his time reading, watching soccer, subscribing to the cricket channel, and he wants to continue to up his cycling mileage. You might see him around the building when he is substitute teaching as part of his free time. Another goal of his is to record audiobooks for the blind, especially if there is a need for a British narrator. Mr. Singleton is a teacher who has shown his love for the subject of English for many years. He has traveled from continent to continent helping children who are less fortunate and then finishing off his career at GHS. We wish you the best of luck in your retirement and hope to see you around school next year. Comments are closed.
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December 2024
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