For English class over break one of our big assignments was to write a profile piece on someone of your choice. I though that my math teacher Seth would be an interesting person to interview. I was interested on what he really thought about teaching, what he likes about it, and what he wants to improve on. Here is what I came up with after a quick interview with Seth and a few secondary interviews with students that have Seth as a teacher:
Seth Dow on Teaching
“At the end of the day, it’s interesting and challenging to teach math, but I think it’s the relationships that you forge with the kids that make it worthwhile.” (Seth Dow)
It’s a sunny spring day in Beckwith West Virginia. Seth Dow, a teacher from Graton, California, is just in the process of settling back into his part-time home after a break from his job at a travelling high school. In the midst of preparing for classes and catching up with his fellow teachers and students, he is willing and excited to take time from his busy day to do a quick interview. He is always eager to help his students during and outside of class. Like teaching a class, Seth conducts the interview with authority and passion.
Seth Dow realized that he wanted to be a math teacher when he was a junior in high school. During his trigonometry class he would always think about how fun it would be to one day teach this class. Seth is now a math teacher at New River Academy. He taught for one year at a public school and is now teaching his first year at New River Academy. He finds that this school gives him countless opportunities to learn and grow as a teacher. In a perfect world, this is his dream job.
In his two years of teaching, Seth has had two teaching experiences that are immensely different. During his first year he taught two classes with 35 students. Now Seth teaches at a private travelling high school where he has five classes ranging from 1-5 students. He finds that this teaching experience is more personal and much better for learning. Everyone is stoked to be here. They put learning and structure first whereas, at pubic school some students feel as though they don’t want to be there. If he had a choice Seth says, “If we were in a bubble and there were no other schools, I would say that this is ideal for teaching. It is so good because your students basically become your family and I think being family is the best way to learn.” (Seth Dow) However, this school is too good to be true. Seth has built his life in California for 25 years and he thinks he has set too many roots there to leave it behind. As much as he would like to work at the “dream school” forever, he has come to terms with the fact that he will eventually have to go back to teaching at a public school.
As Seth is a young and upcoming teacher, he is still experimenting with his teaching techniques. Seth uses everyday as an opportunity to experiment. Recently he had an online competition on Khan Academy for one of his classes. Even though the students were not doing the most complex math, Seth learned that having fun and taking an “easy day” can be just as important as getting straight to the books. He finds that students learn much better when they are having fun. One of his students, Ziggy says, “He loves the challenge of teaching math and does fun things with it like Khan Academy competitions.” When asked what he would change about himself as a teacher, Seth says that he would like to be more consistent. He would like to treat everyone the same all the time while being disciplined, yet compassionate. Instead of getting mad at someone for being late one day and not the next he would like to have a consistent punishment for being late. Seth may be closer to this goal than he thinks. When interviewed about his calculus teacher, Hunt says, “Seth is really good at explaining new concepts and he makes you do your work but he is not super strict.”
Even though Seth’s career as a math teacher is just beginning, it is obvious that he’s on the right track. He is loved by all his students, has goals for improvement, and makes every math class fun.
