Montrealers mourn beloved teacher Joe Hackett, who helped students find their voices
He was that teacher everyone loved—that was what the outpouring on social media this week made clear.
Joe Hackett, a teacher at several Montreal schools over his career, made learning fun and nurtured his students’ creativity, said some of those students.
After his death this week in a traffic accident, they want it known just how much he achieved, school by school, kid by kid.
“He took the stuffiness out of the classroom,” one former student, Steve Spetsieris, told CTV.
“I was a student who kind of hid in the back and didn't want to use my voice, and he made me feel like I was capable of great things,” Spetsieris recalled.
“He gave me a voice and I felt, in his classroom, I was capable of more.”
Spetsieris had Hackett as a teacher at Lauren Hill Academy in 1995, when he was 16. It was because of him, he said, that he went on to become a teacher himself, and then vice-principal at Royal Vale School.
But other students with a wide variety of dreams said that Hackett did the same thing, enthusiastically helping them realize what they loved and figuring out a way to do it as adults.
“Reading and writing were things that I loved, because I was a pretty insular, introverted child. He really nurtured that aspect of my life,” said Helen Yee, who was about 15 when she had Hackett as a teacher at Rosemount High.
Today Yee is a novelist. And years after she graduated from high school, Mr. Hackett showed up to her very first book signing, she said.
He had already even read an advance copy of the book—and still cared as much as ever, paycheque or no.
“He marked up the margins of the book, circled pages, passages he liked, passages he didn't like, passages where he thought I wasn't writing as well as I could,” she said.
Hackett was born in New Jersey but came to study in Montreal, at Concordia, and soon became a teacher at various English schools.
He died on Tuesday at age 71 when, after a day of golfing southwest of Montreal in Saint-Anicet, he was crossing the street to the parking lot and was hit by a truck.
A coroner is now investigating his death.
Hackett had been retired for the last 15 years and he and his wife were planning their 50th wedding anniversary this December.
His friends, as well as his students, say he will be deeply missed. In fact, what made Hackett a great teacher is the same thing that made him a great friend, said Alan Smith.
“He could talk to the students as if they were adults, allow them to express their views, and not just impose his own views, if you want to call it that,” said Smith, at whose wedding Hackett was best man.
He had a way of democratizing his classroom and making everyone, no matter what clique they might be part of, feel welcome, said Spetsieris.
Hackett was a teacher with a passion for his subjects, whether English or history. But aside from the lesson plan, it was this democratic, open-minded approach to all his students that changed Spetsieris’s own outlook so deeply, he said.
At 71, Hackett died far too young, Spetsieris added. After decades spent urging teenagers in the direction of their own interests, he had been enjoying doing the same after his retirement.
“It's not fair,” said Spetsieris. “He was a very happy person, he had a lot of diverse interests, he enjoyed life.”
Those mourning him, however, say at least he can be remembered the way he deserved -- as a once-in-a-lifetime teacher who quietly changed hundreds, or even thousands, of Montrealers' lives.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
BREAKING Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
On federal budget, Macklem says 'fiscal track has not changed significantly'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's fiscal position has 'not changed significantly' following the release of the federal government's budget.