Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter McBride.
Hi Peter, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My start was as a school playground and program director for Los Angeles City Schools Youth Services – visiting and presenting storytelling and guitar-assisted music and rhythms to over 70 elementary schools in the San Fernando Valley.
This evolved into my career as an educator as I taught elementary through high school and adult school in both public and private schools – and as an administrator for a private middle school. I discovered many truths, particularly through student and parent interaction and conferences.
I’m at retirement age presently; however, I am active as a substitute teacher in elementary through high school classroom; an Education Committee member for the California Surf Museum; voiceover artist; husband, parent, grandparent, and author of two non-fiction YA books related to education. I perform in two singing/musical instrument organizations. I began surfing in the early 1960s and continue to this day.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Has my career gone smoothly you ask? Whose has? I encountered principals who looked upon me as their “right hand man”, which was wonderful. But then I endured a couple of principals who saw the school only as an extension of their egos and viewed my popularity and involvement with the students as a threat to them. They had forgotten the mantra, “It’s for the kids.” I accepted the “strike captain” position at our school when LA Unified teachers went on strike after almost two years with no contract. This could happen to someone in many workplaces as well, but I never imagined as a teacher I would be walking picket lines, let alone leading them!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’ve been an educator for much of my career. Utilizing my guitar and singing with my students, we learned everything from times tables to history via original songs and folksongs. As a class, after reading together books such as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” or “Robin Hood”, we wrote together an additional chapter. Using my video camera, we created silent movies about that new chapter with students acting the parts with their lines written on sentence strips for the audience to read.
As a substitute teacher I employ my guitar to encourage my classes to “treat me as their teacher and not force me to be a babysitter.”
My students’ welfare is more critical than even academic issues. Through day-to-day interaction and parent conferences, I demonstrate I care. With this approach my students reveal to me their special needs and weaknesses – ones which connect with issues I have myself experienced in growing up.
These connections I share in my book series, “Dropping In on the Waves of Life”, collections of non-fiction stories expressed as life lessons learned through surfing. The stories are told in first person, present tense, so readers live the experiences with me and either get a “heads up” as to what is ahead or another view of what they have known. The consistent message is that readers are not alone in how they feel and that they need to find someone they can confide in and discuss their feelings and concerns. – not to “keep it in” and allow the pain to fester.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’m a voiceover artist. At the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, it is my voice which speaks to museum attendees who utilize the QR codes displayed on the exhibits, explaining the pictures and items they are viewing. At major events in Boston, I am the “Voice of God” (VOG) for Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School events. Mine is the voice heard from the ceiling and walls of the conference hall, welcoming the distinguished attendees and asking them to take their seats as I introduce the program and notable guest speakers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://droppinginonthewavesoflife.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090185185831
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Dropping-Waves-Life-Tales-Becoming/dp/B0BRBT3321/
