Teaching Philosophy

As a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan, one of my favorite stories involves Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson. He was on the mound in a tight situation late in a game, and Tim McCarver, his catcher, came out to discuss how to pitch to the next hitter. Seeing McCarver approaching, the notoriously cantankerous Gibson snapped, “Get back behind the plate, Timmy. The only thing you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it.”

In that same gentle spirit, the only thing I know about good teaching is that I was fortunate enough to receive a great deal of it in my younger days. Because I was the beneficiary of that wonderful gift, I was propelled into an enjoyable 35-year professional career with jobs that were as much fun as a baseball game, even on the tough days. Having reached a stage in life in which I am focused more on life impact vs. career progression – the psychologist Erik Erikson would call it generativity vs. stagnation – I am ready to see if I can pay my many blessings forward and help launch others into their own callings. If my own experiences are any guide, even if I am wildly successful the scales will forever be tipped in my favor because of the joy that serving others returns to the server.

While I bring no formal teaching experience to this new journey, I am thankfully not unarmed. My undergraduate degree is in chemical engineering, a discipline that requires a substantial investment of effort in mathematics, my chosen subject area, and while I detoured into software development in my professional life, my career has essentially consisted of three decades of word problems with daunting – and occasionally imaginary – numbers. The passion for solving problems has never ebbed, and I hope I will be able to share my excitement in a way that stimulates others to dig deeper. Besides my passion for mathematics, I am by nature an extremely optimistic, positive person, and believe I will be able to encourage my students to go beyond what they think possible in a subject that they may have been convinced they cannot master. 

Finally, having managed teams large and small, I am under no illusion that we live in a one-size-fits-all world when it comes to leadership and learning. My wife and I were blessed first with a daughter who was just like the two of us in that all the things we thought would help her along the path worked – and then with a son who was like nothing we had ever seen. Sitting at the table one night helping him with his math homework, I watched him work three problems using the appointed method and declare he had it mastered. After convincing him that the teacher would appreciate him doing all the assigned problems, he proceeded to work the final ten problems using increasingly Byzantine methods, to the point where I finally exclaimed, “This isn’t jazz, Eric! You can’t just improvise here!” (Wrong again…) I look forward to working with more Erics who will challenge me to find their sweet spots in strange places.

So, what kind of teaching stew will this old dog learning new tricks concoct from all the above ingredients? 

• First, there will be laughter along with the learning. I’ve got too many good stories and no good story ever started with getting it right the first time. If all else fails, I’ve got enough dad jokes to carry the day.
• There will also be cheering when appropriate – I want to catch all my students doing something well and celebrate it. We will get excited whenever the light bulb clicks on!
• Wherever possible, what we are learning will be brought into “the real world” to give it relevance. I love the abstract – as the only chemical engineer I know who stank at thermodynamics but was great with relativistic quantum chemistry, I can tell you no refinery engineer was ever impressed by my ability to solve problems beginning with “you’re approaching a traffic signal at the speed of light…” – but it is much more fun to be able to put what you are learning into practice.
• I will bring my energy and passion for the subject to the classroom, but I will look for the different ways my students need to experience the material to succeed, making sure we create the right kind of space for all.

Most importantly, I will remember that while I think math is an important foundational discipline for everyone, it needs to sit on top of the bedrock of character and self-worth. My students will know I believe in them, even if they don’t solve that quadratic equation on the fifth try.

Please contact me with any questions -- or to check in and see how it's been working at Comfort High School the past few years!