Q&A Spotlight with Mr. Emerson

Q: Why did you choose to be a teacher, and who inspired you to do this profession?  

A: Since my grandfather was a teacher, I certainly think that teaching was something that sort of seemed appealing to me. In graduate school, I grew less passionate about research and sort of stumbled upon boarding schools as an option where I could teach and coach, so that seemed like a nice fit. I'd say my department chair, John Ford, when I was working at Choate was one of the most incredible teachers I've ever been around. During undergraduate school, my organic chemistry was also an incredible mentor. I did some undergraduate research with him and he kind of pushed me to go to graduate school for organic chemistry. However, I knew I didn't want to be in a research lab after graduate school, and I think that's where I sort of gravitated to teaching. The area that I did well in college and school in general was science, so it was just something to continue and graduate school was the opportunity. I think somewhere in graduate school, that's when I realized I really want to be a teacher, or at least try it.

Q: What was one of your most memorable teaching memories? 

 I’ve told this story to my students before but during my second year evaluation at Choate, I was working with alkaline metals and water. I caught the bench and rug on fire as the mixture exploded and my department chair, John Ford, sat beside me. So that's memorable.

Q: How do you incorporate the balance between hands-on learning and analysis base learning? 

For me, I think organic chemistry in college was super hard, but what made it great were the labs. What made the course more accessible to me was the visualization of the labs and how it taught me the textbook content. So the balance for me feels like, get in the labs, get your hands dirty. I think if a lab is done well, it can serve the same purpose as memorizing a chapter. In terms of analysis base learning and prepping for the AP, while we could have focused entirely on just the chemistry and the content, I think there were a lot of other things to discover. For Honors Environmental Science, I try to incorporate field trips and labs because it’s critical. Instead of focusing entirely on learning new content, I want to show them what they were learning. If we want to talk about how our sewage system works, we go to sewage treatment. It's

nasty but we want to see it in action. 

Q: What is the most important value or belief for you when it comes to approaching students? How do you apply that in your teaching? 

A: I think what comes to mind is building trust among the students. It is essential to build a relationship in class between the students, amongst themselves and the teacher. It's particularly important to push yourselves in classes and build a sense of community. I think that's definitely prevalent at Deerfield, but if you don't have that sense of community and trust within the class, I think it's hard for students to really take criticism and grow. I try to allow students to really get to know themselves as students, and hopefully that's something that can grow. As the year goes on, students grow to be instrumental in creating a warm and comfortable atmosphere in class where people had fun and wanted to learn. That's important. If I could be a facilitator in that, that's great.

Q: What is your goal for the students? How does this goal influence the way you teach them? 

A: I think it’s super important to embrace being a nerd. If you have no interest in science, but you are a talented and engaged student, you can find some really interesting tidbits in the class. Get your hands dirty, because that's the beauty. In environmental science, if we want to talk about how we treat our water systems or our sewage, we go to sewage treatment. It's nasty but we want to see it in action. I mean in biology, until you've dissected a heart, you don't really know what a heart is, right? There are all sorts of things with chemistry and environmental science to see. I think it’s important to understand that the buffet is out there, and you get to choose from that buffet anyway you see fit. I try to build enough energy and interest in the material that even a kid who has no interest in science can look forward to going to that class. You guys are so talented in many ways. It's kind of silly, but I always remind myself to do no harm, not screw the student up, and make sure there's a lot of stuff for them to devour. There's a place in the classroom and field to really allow students to push themselves however they see fit, and I think that works particularly well.