Dan Chase

Teaching is not just a job for me; it is how I am built. I have made a career with the titles of “teacher” and “tutor,” but the philosophy and mechanics of effective education is more broadly how I approach the world and the people in it. When I engage in any of my divergent passions, I find myself considering how I would share and teach this passion to a friend. Whether it’s cooking, archery, personal finance, pinball, music, juggling, fishing, fermenting, hiking, or meditation, I would find that special personal hook, that reason why this skill is wonderful and worthwhile. I would help my friend build a foundation of competency based on their own curiosity and level of expertise at their own pace.

I have carried that passionate orientation of personal interest even while teaching such subjects as algebra, geometry, and discrete math to middle and high school students. I’ve helped my geometry students construct a free-standing keystone arch out of foam blocks, my algebra students open retirement investment accounts, and my homeschool students build earthquake-proof model buildings on a simulated ground of Jello. Since I believe doing is learning, in my discrete math class I wasn’t satisfied with my students reading about voting methods and fair sharing strategies, so I had them vote on a class mascot using different methods and attempt to fairly share a giant misshapen cookie. Whenever possible I find ways to invite students into the challenges that were the original impetus for mathematics and science.

Throughout the past two decades, I have increasingly felt that the traditional Western approach to educating young people is a rather ineffective relic of a past industrial era. Throughout my classroom teaching years I did my best to shift that narrow view of siloed academic topics with students performing tasks for a grade out of 100, but I found it impossible to really affect such change from within the paradigm of college prep high schools (no matter how well-meaning and supportive the administration was). Of course, in my current position as an independent tutor I am largely engaged in coaching my students how to “play the game” of completing homework accurately and preparing for tests. But whenever I can, I try to breathe some life and excitement into the dry equations and word problems. I find that just a quick brain teaser game, a tidbit of nerdy trivia, or an example from current pop culture can do wonders to bring some color and meaning into the otherwise gray academic world for my young partners.

I always, always meet my students where they are. There is no shame in feeling behind and unable to accomplish the difficult tasks their teacher asks of them. Instead, it’s just a skill they haven’t fully developed yet. If a student starts working through a problem in a way that is different from the traditionally prescribed method, I am apt to encourage them to continue, see where it goes, and discover for themself whether it works or not. Usually it doesn’t, and they’ll ask for a better tool. But sometimes I’ve learned an interesting new way to approach an old problem and had the important experience of modeling my own novice mind. I remind my students that “I don’t know” is a perfectly acceptable answer any time, since it unlocks a door to new learning. In fact, the more I learn and grow as an adult, the more three words have become my own go-to phrase!