Q&A with Mr. Estes

Mr. Estes is one of the newest teachers on campus. He previously taught one year at Annie R. Morgan Elementary School, seven years in San Francisco, two years in Beijing, China, three years in Qingdao, China, and two years in Seattle. He arrived at Paxon right after winter break last school year to teach IB juniors and seniors Theory of Knowledge and Film. He is also involved in many afterschool programs including being a coach for bowling, being the club advisor for the bowling club, and Paxon Acts. We asked him some questions about his time so far, and here is how it went.

Are you enjoying your time at Paxon? Why or why not?

I love my time at Paxon so far. Everywhere I have ever taught, the students are all amazing, so that’s no different. I really love the classes I’m teaching because they’re brand new. I've taught English and history for all 15 years before coming to Paxon, so teaching TOK and IB are new, and I still don’t know nearly as much of the staff as I should or would like to. I really like the faculty that I've gotten to know so far.

How has Paxon been compared to other schools you have taught at?

It’s very similar in terms of the student population. I've always chosen to teach at public schools, so the student population at the schools I've taught at in Seattle are all very ethnically diverse.  They're linguistically diverse. I really love that about Paxon. That is part of the reason I took this job.  I did not want to be in a homogenous school, so in that regard, it is very similar.  However, where the difference is for me, this is the first IB school I've ever taught at. I spent most of my career teaching AP.

For a new teacher you are very involved, was this a goal of yours or did it just happen that way?

A little bit of both. I like being involved but a lot of the stuff I'm involved in came to me. For example, next semester I'm going to be coaching the girls’ lacrosse team and that wasn’t a plan that I had. It was just a group of people who came to me a couple of weeks ago.

What were some goals you wanted to achieve while being at Paxon?

I want to make sure all my students graduate feeling confident about their ability to go off into the world for most of them though that would be college, but whatever: confident socializers, confident collaborators, things like that. And then a personal goal for me is I really wanted to start to get to know and become an expert in the two courses I teach since I've never taught them before. I do have a background in film, but I've never taught it. And then Theory of Knowledge is brand new for me when I started in January.

How was the transition to becoming a new teacher during the hectic year we had due to coronavirus?

It was awesome. It was very sudden. I took the job the last week of November after a Zoom call with Dr. Turner and Dr. Allen and I packed up everything I owned and my wife and my two dogs in Seattle about three weeks later and I drove across the country, and I had about a week left of winter break, and then I started here. But it was amazing because I was ready to get out of Seattle. Seattle was also 100% remote learning and remained that way for the entirety of last year, so I was teaching at the bar in my kitchen which wasn’t ideal with crazy dogs running around in the background. I was thrilled. I was so excited when I first stepped foot in here on January 4th with students. I was just thrilled to be back in a school building on a school campus. It was amazing. It was the most fun I've ever had starting a new school year and I've been doing this for a long time.