New Pastures

As the year draws to a close we say goodbye to John Gardiner, who's taught maths and physics, and inspired young lives at Donvale Christian College, for more than 30 years. He's not retiring, no, but instead heading into the public sector, there to be salt and light while no doubt pursuing adventurous methods of teaching physics.

One of our current VCE physics students collected some testimonials to John's unique approach to teaching from past physics students. He will be much missed.

As I got older and had you for more classes (and saw you more outside the classroom) I learned more about your worldview and approach to life. These insights have helped me greatly and have shown me what it means to live a considered and deliberate life. 

By far the main thing I remember was his enthusiasm and love for problem solving, maths and physics, like it was a fun hobby, giving me a whole new perspective on my learning

Some of his metaphors were so ridiculous that they still stuck with me to this day - I wonder if he still uses the bunny rabbits as resistance metaphor? His classes were always unique, never boring, and somehow, we all managed to come away from his lessons with more knowledge in our heads despite feeling as if we just laughed for an hour.

I really appreciated that, being one of the few girls to take physics in our Year 12 class, I always felt accepted in a predominantly male environment, and felt celebrated as a worthy, intelligent student. 

My most core memory from physics with Mr Gardiner was when he stood on a trolley and squashed his face against the bench to illustrate the concept of friction as a driving force!

Thank you for who you are. I admire you and your choice and wish you all the best as you move forward to teach at other schools.