School has officially begun in Petersburg, and several new instructors have joined the district this year.
Matthew Gore will be teaching elementary special education. He’s a lifelong Alaskan, coming to the district from Whale Pass, on Prince of Wales Island, after previously living in Wrangell and Anchorage.
Gore has a background in both education and technology.
He told KFSK’s Taylor Heckart that special education is his passion.
Listen here:
TRANSCRIPT:
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Matthew Gore: I feel a calling to help to help kids — but not just kids, everyone — overcome barriers, and it comes from a passion in my own life as I faced my own challenges in education. I want to help that magic for others. I want to help them become who they might not believe they can be yet.
Taylor Heckart: What are you most excited about for this school year?
Matthew Gore: So, I have been looking at a lot of paperwork, and I’m really excited to see kids’ faces, hear their stories, and figure out how I can best help them.
Petersburg really has an awesome team here, I’m very impressed with my colleagues and the leadership. The school district really is working hard to service the kids of their community and build that community. It’s one thing I love about Alaska: that communal mentality that what we can do together is stronger than what we can do alone.
Taylor Heckart: I love that. What brings you the most joy about teaching?
Matthew Gore: When a student goes from “I can’t do this” to “I know what helps me learn,” so that they can believe they can do it someday. I don’t believe in “I can’t,” there’s “I can’t now.”
So, really helping them understand that there is a way to get there, it might not be fun, a lot of the things that are hard in life are worth it, though. So figuring out how to make it fun along the way — I think learning is fun, that’s a really big part of my life, this idea of project-based learning and making it fun. But there’s so much that you can do in the places we live here that that is fun, and so that’s where I find the biggest passion.
But each group’s different, too, and so I’m excited to learn who my students are. They always share with me things that I don’t know.
Taylor Heckart: Ahead of school starting, is there anything that you would like your students or your or the parents to know about you?
Matthew Gore: I’m very excitable, so that’s one thing. I tend to have a high energy level. But you know, I’m a lifelong Alaskan that believes in building a stronger Alaska.
Taylor Heckart: Now, you said you have spent time in Wrangell.
Matthew Gore: Yes.
Taylor Heckart: I feel like I am legally obligated to ask: are you prepared to cheer for the Vikings?
Matthew Gore: I am, actually! I really am loving the Viking energy.
I have to be careful here, because I also love the Wrangell energy, the red and blue, and I’ve been pondering that. But red and blue go good together, and the rivalry will continue.
I’m excited to see how Petersburg does things, and I’ve had a really great welcome from the staff as they teach me how that works. I really love exploring the culture of the town. It never ceases to amaze me that there’s more layers than just the surface layer, and just the pride that the town takes in in preserving that culture and living it, it’s endearing to me and my heart.
