提起Mr. Martin, 同学们总会很兴奋。在浦东万科，他就像“大白(●—●)一般的存在，爱学生，也被学生喜爱。从某种意义上讲，他就像是VSP的校园“孩子王”。下面是Mr. Martin的自述。

”从加入VSP起，我就开始分享“名人名言”，我认为每天的分享是一个帮助师生借鉴和学习前人智慧的很好方式。有时，你可能会把这句话和你当下的境遇联系起来，也许它就能使你豁然开朗，走出困境。

在风雨连廊下的地板上写粉笔字也是，我把它当做是和学生的一种沟通方式。比如开学第一天，我会写“Welcome back to school”；学期的最后一天，我会写“We’re gonna miss you”。这一习惯从未改变，哪怕去年只有九年级返校上课，我还是在前一天回到校园，写下了欢迎语，我希望学生走向教学楼的这一路充满温暖和惊喜。最初因为长时间跪着写字，我的膝盖磨破了，后来我学习街头艺术家，买了一个滑板垫在膝盖下滑行后就好多了。

作为班主任，教室就是我的办公室。这学期我在教室里养了蚂蚁、犀牛甲虫和马达加斯加发声蟑螂（之前我还养过蜗牛），并搭配了显微镜，方便学生观察这些小生命。孩子们对昆虫充满好奇，课间会给昆虫喂食物和水，这也培养了他们的责任感。

周五的户外活动，有时我会买许多孩子们喜欢的“咕卡”，让他们边晒太阳边玩。有的学生不仅做挂饰给自己，还会做了送给朋友；同时，玩的过程也吸引了不同班级、不同年级的孩子加入进来，大家锻炼了社交能力，也将校园社区联结得更紧密。

除了户外活动，另外两个我的“保留节目”也深受学生喜爱——放学音乐和欢送泡泡。我认为经过一周的紧张学习，孩子们值得拥有一个欢乐的周末启动仪式。也许有的孩子这一周有过沮丧、难过、困难的时刻，我希望用这种方式传达快乐和积极的力量。另外，我觉得“泡泡”是非常棒的社交媒介，无论是开朗自信的学生还是内向腼腆的学生，在追逐泡泡时都能打开自己，尽情享受童年的欢乐。

I’ve been writing quotes since I’ve worked in VSP. I do this because I always find them fascinating to see what other people think. Sometimes reading and learning from other people’s wisdom can really connect and put your day on the right track. Some teachers or students said they really like reading the quotes which were exactly what they need to hear.

There’s a tradition that I write down some messages by chalk on the floor on the first and the last day of school, even during the lockdown. When I first started doing it，I was crawling on the ground and my knees became bloody and bruised. So then I got these little rollers that can roll myself around on the ground to make it easier.

As a homeroom teacher, my office is in my class. I have some insects in my class. This semester I got ants, rhinoceros beetle and madagascar hissing cockroaches. Besides the insects I’ve also got microscopes for students to zoom in and see the details of these instects. The students are feeding and taking care of these creatures which foster their responsibilities.

If the weather was good, I would also bring out Gooka on Friday outdoor play time for kids to make. It’s a great way for the kids to have fun and to be creative. They make Gooka not just for themselves, but also give as gift to their friends, which helps build a close school community. 

I also do the bubbles because I think the bubbles are the great equalizer, everybody gets excited about bubbles. Some kids are extrovert but some might be a little socially awkward, both of them get enjoyment from bubbles. I also want to convey that it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, popular or not that popular, you can have fun and enjoy your life.

说起来有点难以置信，我大概有50副眼镜，100条领带。之所以买这么多配饰是源于我在韩国的教学经历。当时我在一所韩国的幼儿园当老师，班里有一个小女孩刚刚配上眼镜，可能因为我俩“一样”，她特别喜欢和我聊眼镜的话题。我本来想做激光视力矫正手术的，但渐渐地我觉得戴眼镜没什么不好。低年级的孩子会说的英语有限，通过眼镜、领带、服装这些直观的东西，能自然地拉近我和学生的距离，创造交流的契机，比如他们会说“哦，你今天的眼镜是蓝的、圆形的”。

除了自己的配饰，我还购买了全套代表学院的充气吉祥物。最初我只买了自己学院的，但看到别的学院孩子羡慕的眼神，我决定应该让每个学院都拥有充气吉祥物。我希望学院活动能成为VSP学生的快乐记忆，成为他们长大后回首学生时代的那份温暖和欢乐源泉。

说来有些不好意思，我真的买了好多东西。大家都喜欢找我借东西，我的书桌就像哆啦A梦的口袋，什么都有。

You may not believe it, I’ve got about 50 different pairs of glasses and probably 100 ties. When I was teaching in Korea, I was wearing glasses, and one of my students, a little girl got glasses for the first time as well. So she felt that we were the “same”，and always want to chat glasses with me. I was suppose to get the laser surgery，but this interaction between teacher and student made me feel that there’s nothing wrong with glasses, on the contrary, glasses can become a “topic” attracting and ecouraging student to communicate with me. Because for young kids, they don’t have much English vocabulary and also may be shy to talk, my changing glasses gives them an opportunity to communicate with me to build their confidence. So as the function of costumes and ties.

I am also passionate about house activity. I bought all of the inflatable house mascot. I want the students to have a good experience in school. When they grow up and look back, I want them to have happy memories about their school life. House activity is a great way for kids to have fun. Life is more than just studying, you can have fun，you can be creative，you can get excited about things and be who you are.

I like shopping and have got a lot of things in my class. They are used for students, teaching and activities. People like borrow stuff from me as most of time I do have the thing they need.

在刚结束的“德英乐杯棒球公开赛”上，我周六周日两天都到现场为VSP队员加油。因为我住浦东，而比赛是在闵行校区。为了方便，我干脆住在闵行校区附近的酒店。有人问我，周末休息不好么，为什么要从浦东跑到闵行，还自己花钱住酒店，就为了连续两天加油助威？但对我而言，这一切都是值得的。因为在我的成长过程中，许多非常棒的老师给予过我温暖，我就想把这份温暖传递下去。

我记得自己从幼儿园大班到八年级的每一位老师，有的老师我至今依然会在Facebook上互动，也会在回美国探亲时去看望他们。我的妈妈和一位曾教过我一年级的老师是很好的朋友，这位可爱的老师听说我在中国的小学教书，分享了许多教学材料给我母亲，让她转达给我。这些人，这些事，都是鼓励我成为一名老师的力量。

我还有非常棒的家人，每周或是每隔一周我就会和家人视频聊天。从小到大，我的父母一直全力支持我的各种选择。大学毕业后，我先搬到了纽约，然后去了韩国教书，再后来就到了上海，至今已有7年多了。在这个过程中，他们从来都是百分百尊重和支持我的选择。

我还有个很优秀的哥哥，他很聪明，是一名游戏设计师。但我的父母从未要求过我俩必须成为什么样子，我们只需要做自己就好，无需活成他人眼中的“模板”。

Now is the DTD Sports Season, I went to see the “1st DTD Baseball Open” which was on both Saturday and Sunday and cheered on VSP players. The match was in Minhang where is the west of Shanghai, but I live in Pudong where is the east of the city, so I booked a hotel to avoid long distance commute. Someone may ask why do you do so many things, why don’t you rest in weekend? But for me, all of works are worth as long as they support and benefit the students. I had fantastic teachers when I was a kid, so I want to pay it forward, and make my studetns feel being loved and supported.

I still remember all of my teachers from preschool kindergarten to grade eight. They had a passion for teaching and had a passion for really building kids up. When I go back to the US, I still sometimes see these teachers that used to teach me. I also connect some of my teachers on facebook and send messages. My mom is good friend with my first grade teacher. They still talk about me and my old grade one teacher even gives my mom teaching resources to give to me. All of these nice teachers shaped me.

My parents are also awesome. Every week or every other week we will make WeChat video calls.  They are supportive of me for my entire life. and encouraged me to do what I wanted to do. They didn’t expect me to fit into a mold. After university I moved to New York and then I moved to korea, then I moved to shanghai, they’ve encouraged me every step of the way. They also made fantastic influence on my brother too. He’s smart and worked in video games industry. There’s a lot of social norms and stereotypes and I want kids to know that it’s okay if they don’t fit in with it, you can be you.