Outstanding Teachers

By Niall Twohig

This year, Warren students selected me as teacher of the year, an award given at graduation. The ceremony’s mechanical sleekness disturbed me: students carry barcoded slips, barcodes are scanned, AI announces names, move and pose for livestream, move and pose for photographer, exit stage back to seats. Next row. Next row. Next row. A continuous data stream. This is a break from previous years when professional readers—real human beings—read students’ names with emotion, reacting playfully to tweet worthy poses. AI shortened the ceremony by thirty minutes. But consider what was lost. On a personal (yet still collective) note, I was disheartened because the planners did not read my preferred bio at the ceremony. It did not fit the script. What did fit felt as lifeless as the AI roll call. Here is the preferred bio:

Niall Twohig began teaching in Warren Writing in 2019. He teaches contemplative practices that help students hear their conscience and put what they hear into words. Coming from a lineage of Irish and Filipino rebels, priests, and caregivers, he feels called to accept this award on behalf of students who are listening to their conscience by standing against the war machine and using words, not bombs or billy clubs, to move towards justice in Palestine, coexistence in that region, and freedom for all people. For Twohig, these students are the truly outstanding teachers of the year.

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