Mark Watson, primary school teacher and Aberdeen alumnus, has recently started to write and illustrate books. He did what quite a few of us only dream of - he finished a book and had it published, and then another, and another. Now he’s the author of six children’s books and one book for new teachers. Read here about his time in international teaching and what inspired him to start writing his books.
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A successful career in teaching would normally suggest a long-harboured dream of becoming a teacher but Mark fell into the career path by happy accident. In secondary school, he was sent to a school for his work experience placement. At first reluctant to go, he ended up enjoying his time and would soon arrange for his timetable to include visits to other schools to allow him to gain more experience.
One of his proudest moments in teaching was helping a student begin to read her first words fluently. She had been self-conscious that the rest of the class could read while she was still struggling, and so the day she finally read an entire book by herself was celebrated by everyone. Mark explains that “it’s difficult to describe the euphoria that you feel as a teacher when a student finally achieves that goal that has plagued them for a long time.
“Their goal becomes your shared goal. Your class and students become your family and it feels so good to see them achieve, in the same way it does when a family member achieves something too.”
Mark also says as a teacher he has many moments of pride and some of regret. Wanting to be successful in all areas of the school, requesting to be moved to early years teaching turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made. It has helped him unearth a true passion for early years education and allowed him to develop new skills. This is why he encourages everyone, but especially teachers, to step out of their comfort zone and explore new ventures in their careers.
Mark and his wife are keen to step out of their comfort zone in their personal lives as well, exploring new places by travelling around the globe; fittingly, international teaching had been a dream of theirs for a long time. To go on the biggest adventure possible entailed moving to the other side of the world to Borneo to embrace a new culture and new people. They only returned to Scotland recently for family reasons.
Mark says that learning his trade as a teacher at the University of Aberdeen “was a massive help in getting me to where I am today”. His master’s degree in Education has especially had a big impact on his life, encouraging him to explore his passions within education more deeply. During his time at University he set up an amateur football team that is still successfully running a decade later. He also worked part-time as a tutor on the Childhood Practice course during his master’s degree.
It was as a guest lecturer for student teachers at the University of Aberdeen that he realised that everything he was presenting was information that he wished he’d had when he was qualifying to be a teacher. That’s how the idea for his newest book Not Another Book for New Teachers was born. The book explores the role of new teachers with relatable anecdotes and practical advice. While Mark, like a lot of people, always considered the idea of writing a book, it was only during the lockdown in Borneo, where his wife and he had been living and working as international teachers at the time, that the project of writing and illustrating children’s books began to take shape. Needing something to help fill the time, Mark started writing down “some silly short stories” which developed into numerous children’s picture books published by Aberlochaber Publishing. As a teacher, he realised that the stories he wrote needed pictures if children wanted to read them and so he began practising his drawing abilities to illustrate them himself. Once he started doing that, he says “I couldn’t stop!”. Every one of his stories is different which, according to Mark, is what makes writing so much fun as you’re not restricted to what you can write about. For any aspiring writers out there, he has three pieces of advice - try out what you want to write about, know your ending and lastly, enjoy it.
He also stresses the importance of being honest and open and aware of the fact that you never know it all. In his probation year as a teacher, he struggled greatly with various elements of his practice and did not speak up. Reflecting on this time, he wished he’d admitted to his colleagues that he needed help rather than trying to fix everything himself. His advice is that “whether you are still a student or have begun your teaching career, it is okay to ask for help”.
