Photo courtesy of Ross Mortenson
Before coming to Choate in 1992, Mr. Joel Backon worked at technology and financial management positions in the printing and publishing industries. As his career became threatened by the industry’s shift toward desktop publishing, the use of personal computers to design print publications, he turned to teaching. “I had attended a boarding school, and I had always sort of thought that teaching would be something that I would like to do,” he said recently. “I knew I couldn’t teach at a public school because you had to be certified by the state, so I got a list of boarding schools and sent letters to them.”
Although most schools were not interested in Mr. Backon because he had no prior experience teaching, a few schools, including Choate, thought his background in business would make him a valuable member of their communities. Still, no schools could offer him a spot in the classroom. Choate told Mr. Backon that it had recently been forced to cut its budget, and “it wouldn’t look too good if we hired another teacher.”
Instead, Mr. Backon, who will retire this spring after 27 years at the School, was offered a job as the Director of Academic Technology. “They said to me, ‘Why don’t you apply for that position, and if you get it, do it for a couple of years, and when we start hiring teachers again, you can move over.’”
In 1992, the Internet barely existed, and, as Director of Administrative Assistance, Mr. Backon was responsible for such rudimentary tech work as installing landline phones in dorm rooms. Since there was no Director of Academic Technology, Mr. Backson was also responsible for helping teachers integrate technology into their curriculum. As a result, Mr. Backon had to juggle both the academic technology responsibilities and administrative assistance jobs.
Mr. Backon said, “After 13 years, I went to some of the senior administrators and said ‘I can’t do both jobs anymore.’ There were too many teachers who needed help using technology in the classroom, and I actually liked that work better than the IT work that I’d been doing. So then I became the Director of Academic Technology. It was initially a half-time position, so I taught two courses and also did Academic Technology.”
In the several decades he has spent working at Choate, Mr. Backon has seen the School change in many ways. “In 1992, ‘lockdown drill’ wasn’t even in the vernacular,” he said. “And there wasn’t really a lot of conversation about diversity, even though in 1992 Choate was more diverse than its peer schools, we didn’t really talk much about it. We were just happy we had a diverse student population.”
Despite the many roles he has filled and the changes he has seen, Mr. Backon has always loved his classroom teaching the most. “It’s is my favorite thing to do here,” he said, “and it is the thing I’m going to miss the most in retirement — being in the classroom with kids.” He continued, “I want kids to be successful, and I think most of my colleagues would say that as well. We all want our kids to be successful.”
Many of Mr. Backon’s students agree that he strives for the best for each of his students. They are sad to see him retire. Emily Goodwin ’21, a student in Mr. Backon’s world history course, said, “He’s such a good teacher, devoting time to answer our questions because he really wants us to succeed. Our whole history class is sad he’s leaving because he’s a really good teacher.”
Theo Curtis ’21, another student in one of Mr. Backon’s world history classes, said, “I think I’ve learned more from him, in terms of history and how to write good writing, than any other teacher. He genuinely cares about his students, and he wants to see them succeed in their writing and their work.”
After leaving Choate, Mr. Backon plans to stay busy. He said, “I have this fantasy of sitting home and reading all the books I never got to read while I was here, but I realize, realistically, that I’m not quite ready for that. I need to keep being challenged, keep being energetic.”
