Michael and his wife Kelsey adventuring in Iceland
Michael Peller is a founding upper school teacher at the at Nueva School in Hillsborough, California. Beyond teaching Math and Natural Science, he is an all around adventurist. Outside the classroom you can find him: hiking, biking, surfing, and skiing. Michael and I taught together at Sonoma Academy, where he showed the entire faculty how to live life to its fullest.
You are a great example of a teacher who has an awesome active life outside the classroom. At the same time, you are equally amazing in the classroom. One of my favorite memories is when a few of us surfed Bolinas at night, camped, surfed the morning, and then drove to school in time to make it to our final faculty meeting of the year. I think we still had sand and salt in our hair.To what do you attribute your seemingly boundless energy and sense of adventure?
Energy feels binary. Go full speed all the time until it is time to crash. Teaching is a busy lifestyle so you need to squeeze in restorative activities or else it would be easy to not carve out space for yourself. When doing things you love, energy does not seem an issue, though. It is just there.
You played soccer growing up and in college. What was it like to transition to the world of non-school related sports?
For me now, I rarely play a “sport.” I do a lot of outdoor activities, things to stay healthy and provide adventure. I have tried to find ways to re-introduce soccer into my life (men’s leagues and pick-up games) but it feels almost fake. In a way, it was a beautiful chapter that feels closed. Soccer was everything to me for a long time. Now I would prefer taking a walk in the woods with [my wife] Kelsey and my dog. Athletics and activity have always been a meditation for me.
Have there been points in your life when you’ve ever felt like just sitting on the couch? What keeps you moving and active?
Absolutely not. Except when I had shingles last year. I get bored so quickly if I am inside. Working in schools makes my mind tired; I feel like I need to equally exhaust my body. There is so much to do, so much fun to have. Yes, fun keeps me moving. Seeking adventure and happiness through doing.
Beyond being an energized teacher, how has your sense of adventure and active lifestyle translated into your teaching and your interactions with faculty members?
I think it keeps me grounded and gives some perspective to school issues. It is a pressure release.
What advice would you give to a sedentary teacher who wants to start being more adventurous and active?
That’s a strange question for me. The idea of wanting to be adventurous and active, to me, implies that it is not part of who they are. And if it is not part of who they are, it will not fill them, in which case it becomes another thing they have to do. The advice would be: Find something you love; and do it; and fall more in love with it so you will carve out space to ensure you have opportunities to do it.