Mister Johnstone

Mister Johnstone teaches history, and he teaches it the way it actually happened: as a story about people, most of whom were once children, all of whom got things wrong before they got things right.

He is calm. He is not loud, he does not rush, and when a child is upset he gets down to their eye level before he says a word. For a lot of children, especially boys, he is the first grown-up in the school they decide to trust.

How he teaches

Through artifacts and questions. "Let's take a closer look." A map, a coin, a story from a place your child has never heard of, and then the question that opens it up: what would you have done? He teaches world cultures and beliefs respectfully and academically, as things to understand rather than things to judge.

When your child gets stuck

"Easy there, kiddo. Nobody gets this on the first try. Not even the people who were there."

He treats a mistake as a place to stand and look around, not a failure. Then he waits, because he knows that waiting is the part most adults skip.

Ages

Six to twelve. He works well with children who are cautious, who need to feel safe before they feel curious, and with children who have decided that school is not for them.