{"id":16025,"date":"2018-06-13T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16025"},"modified":"2018-07-04T10:32:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T17:32:24","slug":"know-your-profs-camosuns-garret-flowers-goes-from-the-circus-to-post-secondary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/06\/13\/know-your-profs-camosuns-garret-flowers-goes-from-the-circus-to-post-secondary\/","title":{"rendered":"Know Your Profs<\/em>: Camosun\u2019s Garret Flowers goes from the circus to post-secondary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Know Your Profs\u00a0<\/i>is an ongoing series of profiles on the instructors at Camosun College. Every issue we ask a different instructor at Camosun the same 10 questions in an attempt to get to know them a little better.<\/p>\n

Do you have an instructor that you want to see interviewed in the paper? Maybe you want to know more about one of your teachers, but you\u2019re too busy, or shy, to ask? Email\u00a0editor@nexusnewspaper.com\u00a0and we\u2019ll add your instructor to our list of teachers to talk to.<\/p>\n

This issue we talked to Camosun Mathematics instructor Garret Flowers about being a former circus performer, viewing math as an art, and going to local shows.<\/p>\n

1. What do you teach and how long have you been at Camosun?<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been teaching math at Camosun for about four years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun College Mathematics instructor Garret Flowers (photo by Adam Boyle\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. What do you personally get out of teaching?<\/i><\/p>\n

I know it sounds cheesy, but to me, math is more of an art than a science. It\u2019s creative, elegant, and sometimes weird. I love showing students that math isn\u2019t always painful, and I try to convince them that anyone can be good at math.<\/p>\n

3. What\u2019s one thing you wish your students knew about you?<\/i><\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing that comes to mind that I wish students would know about me. However, something I think they might find interesting was that a few years ago, I was a member of a professional circus troupe.\u00a0I toured Asia and the US for a year performing for children, and occasionally I\u2019ll do some performances around Victoria (although not so much anymore).<\/p>\n

4. What\u2019s one thing you wish they didn\u2019t know about you?<\/i><\/p>\n

Nice try, but I\u2019m not going to give away my weaknesses that easily.<\/p>\n

5. What\u2019s the best thing that\u2019s ever happened to you as a teacher here?<\/i><\/p>\n

I think my favourite moments are when students from previous semesters email or visit.\u00a0It\u2019s really nice to know that I\u2019m having an impact on some students\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

6. What\u2019s the worst thing that\u2019s ever happened to you as a teacher here?<\/i><\/p>\n

Trying to finish my doctorate at UVic while teaching full-time at Camosun.\u00a0It was a stressful and disorganized term.\u00a0But it\u2019s taught me to be more aware of students\u2019 lives outside of the classroom.<\/p>\n

7. What do you see in the future of post-secondary education?<\/i><\/p>\n

I see post-secondary education branching out in many different directions in the future. Online education is becoming more prevalent, and colleges are slowly adapting.\u00a0I think the style and nature of classroom lectures will change significantly as more technological advances are incorporated.\u00a0Additionally, more people are enrolling in post-secondary institutions, and their motivations for doing so are becoming more diverse.\u00a0For some, post-secondary education is simply a means to an end\u2014obtaining a desirable career. For others, it is about learning to think critically and gain a greater understanding of the world.\u00a0While I tend to fall into the latter camp, I think it\u2019s important to try and mix a bit of both ideologies when teaching.<\/p>\n

8. What do you do to relax on the weekends?<\/i><\/p>\n

A variety of things, really.\u00a0I really enjoy music, so I try to go to local shows on the weekend.\u00a0Sometimes I\u2019ll visit friends or just stay in and play video games.\u00a0In the summer, I hope to do a bit of camping as well.<\/p>\n

9. What is your favourite meal?<\/i><\/p>\n

Americanized Chinese food is definitely number one, but Thai and Vietnamese food are also favourites of mine.<\/p>\n

10. What\u2019s your biggest pet peeve?<\/i><\/p>\n

Bringing smelly foods from the cafeteria into class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Know Your Profs\u00a0is an ongoing series of profiles on the instructors at Camosun College. Every issue we ask a different instructor at Camosun the same 10 questions in an attempt to get to know them a little better. Do you have an instructor that you want to see interviewed in the paper? Maybe you want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,212],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-june-13-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16027,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16025\/revisions\/16027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}