If there is one thing that is clear after speaking with Jason Mayo it’s that he loves Norfolk County.
Born and raised on a farm here in Norfolk, Jason quickly returned back home to teach once he graduated.
Jason believes there is just something special about the area, and the people, that keeps him planted here and moulding young minds for the future.
For his teaching style, he models it after a childhood hero who first had him thinking about becoming a teacher – Mary Poppins.
While laughing at how silly the reference sounds on the surface, Jason says her values of making learning fun but also being stern and straight with kids under her watch when she needs to be is a very serious goal of his and something he believes he accomplishes in the classroom.
That, combined with an amazing English teacher he had in high school, made his teaching path clear.
The only difference between himself and Poppins, according to Jason, is while the Disney character may encourage a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down – he doesn’t believe in sugar-coating the facts.
He believes it is best to be straight and honest with his students.
That comes with being honest about who he is and being that person in the classroom.
Jason said he really started to connect with parents and children after he decided to be open and honest about his personal life – being an openly gay teacher in a smaller community.
He says this authenticity of being who he truly is in and out of the classroom has students “buy in”, and they are willing to connect on a different level once they know you are being true to yourself.
Students certainly do love Jason, as he won our own Spirit Awards back in 2019 for Favourite Teacher and many listeners sang his praise.
We also spoke about virtual learning and making that switch twice now as well.
Jason said it was a bit of an adjustment as he feels he is a performer and there is something about having a live audience that makes any performance special.
With that, he says he made sure he was online and available as much as possible for the students whether they had school work questions or needed to talk about anything else.
He said it went both ways, with him missing that human connection during the various lockdowns. The teacher added seeing his students made all the difference during this time and he hopes them seeing him and their fellow classmates made a difference to them as well.
Jason is currently a teacher at Waterford District Secondary School.
Jason’s full interview, including a truly heartwarming story about his favourite teaching moment, can be found below.