I am a Massachusetts Certified teacher of high school mathematics and science. Since 1992 I've been teaching subjects such as physics, physical science, engineering design, robotics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and advanced placement Calculus. I also taught in an interdisciplinary environment during my two years at North Central Charter Essential School, tying together history, English, math and science into a comprehensive and holistic learning experience.
During my years in public school I focused on improving curriculum and instruction by continuing my professional development, advocating for reform, and exploring various educational venues in my quest to bring the most effective and relevant learning experience to my students. The democratic freeschool model became the clear choice to fulfill my dream of a school where students are respected as individuals and are allowed the freedom to explore their own interests. Balance Rock Center is the realization of that dream.
I started teaching at the age of 37, after working in the construction industry for 10 years. I worked in engineering, doing design, estimating, and sales of prefabricated building components. In late 1990, it became apparent that in order stay in the construction business, I would have to move away from Massachusetts. Orders had slowed down to a trickle, and new construction had pretty much come to a standstill. Since I wasn't very happy in my job, I decided to stay in New England and change careers. I wanted a job I could love, a job that would have a positive impact on the world, a job more in line with my ideals. Teaching seemed like a natural fit. I had never considered teaching when I was younger, but I came to believe that I could be a 'new, different, better' kind of teacher, and so, my journey began.
I went back to school at Boston University's School of Education. I wanted to get my degree in mathematics education and also be part of the 'Chelsea Project', BU's takeover of the Chelsea public school system. It seemed at the time to be the cutting-edge of education reform, an area of great interest to me. I wanted to see what reform was all about, as well as how computer technology could improve education. BU was a great place to start in my attempt to be a 'new, different, better' kind of teacher than many of the ones I had had as a child.
After graduating with a B.S. degree in mathematics education in May, 1992, I was hired by a local central Massachusetts high school to teach both math and science, including physics and physical science. Even though I wasn't certified to teach physics at the time, the opportunity was very welcome because I love physics! It didnšt take very long for me to get my certification to teach science, and I have continued to engage in professional development activities related to both math and science ever since.
Throughout my teaching career, I have endeavored to bring new ideas to the classroom. In particular, I have done a lot of work outside of school to learn how to bring project-based learning and technology to my classes to stimulate interest and understanding for my students. I believe this approach has been very effective, but as time went by I realized that the students I was working with had a hard time adjusting to the freedom and responsibility inherent in this style of learning. I expected magic to happen, but instead found that I had to overcome the years of inertia kids arrived with. This inertia generally manifested itself as either a passive, "tell me what I need to do to get an A" attitude, or as a "I hate school, I hate this class, and I donšt have any interest in this" attitude. I found that with time and encouragement most students start to respond, start to think, and finally show some interest and creativity, but the attitude at the beginning of the year begs the question: what has happened to these kids to make them so unwilling to learn? The pursuit of an answer to this question spurred my interest in a new educational paradigm, culminating in my desire to start a freeschool.
My experience with the students at public high school would probably have been enough to convince me that the 'one size fits all' style of education is just not meaningful for many of our students. However, a cascading series of learning experiences outside of my public school experience contributed to a belief that the incremental changes I had been advocating for were not enough to make a real difference. A brief list of the other experiences that led to my current thinking about education follows:
1. My children went to Montessori school through 6th grade, and did not transition well into public school. Montessori opened my eyes to a different way of doing things, where children learned at their own pace and creativity was encouraged.
2. A young man who went to Sudbury Valley School from ages 6 to 17 hired me to teach him math so he could pass the SAT. He had never done any mathematics at all, and had no idea how to do fractions, much less algebra and geometry. Two sessions a week for six weeks was all it took for him to learn enough to get a 640 on the math SAT. When I looked at my high school juniors and seniors and considered that they had been 'learning' math for 11 years and many of them couldn't do as well on the SAT, I began to get a glimmer of something seriously wrong with our public education system.
3. A few years of teaching was enough to convince me that our school, and most schools I was familiar with, are only serving a small portion of the student body, that is: The kids who love sports or other school-based activities, the kids who are working for scholarships, and the kids whose learning style is met in a typical classroom situation. That leaves a large percentage of the other kids to be stuck in classrooms all day doing busy work for teachers who are usually doing their best to deliver a curriculum that just doesn't connect with what the kids really want to do. I myself was guilty of trying to force-feed kids the material I had been told to teach them, but after struggling with it for the first couple of years, I started to try to find out what would truly engage these kids. Since I was supposed to be teaching them science and math, we kept the class focused on those themes, but we did projects that were geared more to their interests. The projects often turned out well, real learning was going on, and we were all a lot happier.
4. My own two children convinced my wife and I to let them take an alternative approach to education, and it has worked out very well. My daughter skipped the last two years of high school to attend the fine arts program at Mount Wachusett Community College, and my son graduated from Sudbury Valley School where he became a voracious learner, as opposed to the bitter and angry person he had become in public middle school. The experience with Rowan and Lowell has made it very clear to me that a traditional education is not only not necessary, it can stand in the way of what kids are really interested in.
5. I was invited to be a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Academy of Mathematics and Science for the school year 2000 - 2001. I took a year's leave of absence from my school and was immersed in a project-based curriculum at a special public school for 11th and 12th graders on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Suffice to say that it was a remarkable year, and I will never look at education the same way.
All of these experiences as a teacher have combined to form the philosophical basis of Balance Rock Center:
I believe that an educational experience should be founded on the principles that people need space, freedom, and support to explore themselves and their interests. Natural curiosity is the basis of all real learning, so here at Balance Rock staff and programs support and facilitate this natural curiosity. Urban and rural spaces provide a variety of experiences on and off campus, such as gardening, computer lab, art and music, and natural sciences. Adults and children create environments where learning how to learn is as important as content. Teaching and learning are nurtured through individual and collective involvement in the greater community. Students are a trusted and integral part of the school community. Decisions are made through a participatory democratic process by staff and students. The financial structure of the school is tailored to ensure that a freeschool education is accessible to low-income students.