Teaching Like a State

No teacher had a bigger impact on me than Miles Chen.

He was my high school advisor, teacher, and golf coach. He was famous for his love of pork buns. Everybody talked about the restaurants he took us to and the Chinese food he brought to school. But people outside our golf team never experienced Miles’ wisdom, his appreciation for Asian culture, or how the games we played on the golf course laddered up to a galaxy of life lessons.

Miles did his own thing. He cared little for norms. Unlike other teachers, he recognized that the bond you build with your students is more important than any material knowledge you impart to them. In class, he created his own curriculum, so his teaching was less predictable than a Cardi B interview. He rarely gave tests and reluctantly handed out grades at the end of the semester. Even though he was a triple major from UC Berkeley — painting, physics, and astrophysics — he wasn’t trapped down by rigid educational norms. He taught with the magic wand of humor, as opposed to the bureaucratic seriousness of his colleagues.

To date, Miles was the only teacher who made math feel like more than symbols on a page. Through his teaching, the universe came to life as his equations twinkled like stars in the nighttime sky.

Now that I’m a teacher, I want to be more like Miles. Actually, I want our entire school system to create teachers like him.

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Πηγή: perell.com