Assistant professor in Kinesiology wins third teaching award in five years

Winning a teaching award of excellence from the McMaster Students Union is impressive. Claire Tuckey’s won three in five years. She was a finalist the other two years. The student comments that clinched this year’s award ran seven single-spaced pages.

So how did she do it? The signs were there from the start.

“I’ve always loved school. The classroom is my happy place.”

As a kid, Tuckey dreamed of becoming a gym teacher. She was surrounded by lots of role models. “I had such great teachers all through elementary and secondary school.”

And then Tuckey went to Brock University to study physical education and took a course taught by associate professor Jae Patterson. Tuckey was blown away and her dream changed – she now wanted to teach kinesiology to university students.

“Jae always started his classes with a smile. He’s such a happy and positive prof and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. We knew he was having fun teaching us and that kept us interested and engaged in whatever we were studying.”

Like a lot of students, Tuckey registered for every course Patterson taught. “I realized that the energy and enthusiasm professors bring into the classroom is a deciding factor for students.”

So that’s what Tuckey brought to McMaster, first as a teaching assistant, then a lead teaching assistant, sessional instructor and now as an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology.

The “Flair of Claire” didn’t dim while Tuckey juggled teaching a full course load and completing a PhD in Kinesiology. “My dad was forever telling me to stay in school – I may have taken his advice a little too literally.”  Tuckey defended her PhD and celebrated with her friends and family on a Tuesday and was back teaching in the classroom that Thursday.

Like Patterson, Tuckey has students who’ll take whatever courses she teaches, even ones that are scheduled first thing Monday mornings or late Friday afternoons. Her colleagues call them Tuckies, a nod to singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s fanbase of Swifties.

The parallels with Swift don’t end there. Thank-you cards from students hang from a string of twinkle lights in her office. Tuckey’s made a collage out of thank-you notes and put them in a frame above her desk. She even had students make friendship bracelets in class as part of a fine motor skills experiment.

And then there’s the “collection of delightful things” inside “Dr. Tuckey’s Treasure Trove” – it’s a wooden box that Tuckey shellacked and hand-stenciled. The box could easily retail for $199 plus shipping and handling on taylorswift.com. Tuckey brings the box to class on special occasions for students who’ve gone above and beyond. While there isn’t a red cardigan inside the box, there are chocolate bars, campus store merch, school supplies or anything else that Tuckey thinks she would have appreciated when she was a student.

The box is kept on a cabinet next to the whiteboard where Tuckey mapped out her winter term classes from Monday to Friday. She had three classes on Mondays, none on Tuesdays, four on Wednesdays, two on Thursdays and one on Fridays.

To no one’s surprise, Tuckey says Wednesdays were her favourite day of the week. Her first class started at 10:30 a.m., the last class ended at 6:20 p.m. and every class was in a different building.

“My best days are always busy and full of students who are learning, having fun and we’re drawing off each other’s energy.”