\u201cI had a student once\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clay Kaufman, the newest addition to Fieldston\u2019s Math Department, is an overflowing fountain of stories. Whether during Calculus class, somehow connecting derivatives to his fifth-grade soccer team, or in the hallway, commenting on an athletics dress up that reminds him of a graph, he always finds a way to associate math and the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kaufman began his teaching career at 22 years old, fresh from his graduation at Yale University. He started at his first school, in Washington D.C., the Field School, \u201cwhich, ironically, sounds just like Fieldston,\u201d said Kaufman. In a lot of ways, besides their names, Kaufman\u2019s first and current schools share similarities: progressive, very student-centered, small class sizes and very hands-on learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlthough,\u201d Kaufman joked, \u201cFieldston has a lot more stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Field School often brought in young teachers, and Kaufman learned from the school\u2019s older experienced mentors. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what I was doing in the beginning,\u201d said Kaufman. \u201c[My mentors] taught me how to connect teaching to the real world, and make everything really student-centered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After an astounding twenty years at the Field School, Kaufman became the Head of School at the Siena School in Maryland, which concentrated on students with learning disabilities. As the school expanded, Kaufman started the high school branch and created the curriculum. \u201cI loved learning about teaching there,\u201d said Kaufman. \u201cI learned strategies for teaching kids with learning disabilities that actually are just great teaching for everybody. There are so many ways you can level the playing field so that everyone is included all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following his tenure at Siena, Kaufman headed north, to Connecticut, where he founded The Cedar School, a high school for students with dyslexia. \u201cUp here there\u2019s a lot of fantastic K-8 schools,\u201d said Kaufman \u201cBut no local high school [for dyslexic students].\u201d Kaufman oversaw the Cedar School for three years, and looks back fondly, \u201cI\u2019m really glad I did it. The students did really well; that was the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kaufman searched for his next teaching gig and found Fieldston. Immediately, he launched into the Fieldston community: creating a student a capella group, attending playoff games, notably the Field Hockey state championship and all the school theatre productions. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s always been important to not just go in, teach a class and leave,\u201d said Kaufman. \u201cYou understand the students better when you understand the culture of the school. You understand the teaching philosophies when you understand all the different things that go on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for his transition, Kaufman found some surprising positives. \u201cI teach mostly seniors this year, which some might think would be the hardest transition to make, but really it\u2019s been the best part of the transition,\u201d said Kaufman. \u201cI get to see the finished product: who is a Fieldston student? What qualities does Fieldston want their students to walk away with?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Fieldston, Kaufman brings a teaching approach, impacted greatly by his early teaching years, which concentrates on students holistically. First, said Kaufman, students want to know WHY we\u2019re doing this. \u201cThey deserve an answer. If you don\u2019t have one, then you shouldn\u2019t be teaching it,\u201d said Kaufman. \u201cRelating learning to students\u2019 lives is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, for Kaufman, it\u2019s important to know students as people outside of the classroom. \u201cI understand my students when I understand what\u2019s important to them,\u201d said Kaufman, explaining his frequent appearances in the bleachers at big games, or in the audience at big shows. \u201cEveryone is motivated by something different,\u201d said Kaufman. \u201cIf you really want to learn something, you need to be motivated. I\u2019ve dedicated my career to finding what motivates students, and for each one it\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His approach? According to Fieldston students, who adopted the nickname \u201cKauf-drop\u201d for the beloved new math teacher \u2013 a major success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKaufman really makes an effort to understand the way that each student thinks \u2013 their different thought processes,\u201d said Caitlin Neidow (Form VI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reanna Bilbao (Form VI) agreed, saying, \u201cKaufman knows how to support his students in and out of the classroom. He doesn\u2019t care about fitting in all the material in one day, he really cares about us understanding it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even for Fieldston students who don\u2019t have him as a teacher, Kaufman makes an impact. \u201cMr. Kaufman came up to me after the percussion performance at Homecoming, and said, \u2018I saw how big your smile was on that field, and it made me smile\u2019 \u2013 and I signed up for his a capella club. Even though I\u2019m not his student he has time and time again made me smile,\u201d said Amelia Citron (Form VI)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kaufman\u2019s famous tie and mustache look, coupled with his beaming smile and frequent high-fives, already feel like Fieldston classics. In a short amount of time, Kaufman has made Fieldston a home \u2013 in his teaching, his attempts to start a Fieldston a capella club and his constant cheers for fellow community members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI had a student once\u2026\u201d Clay Kaufman, the newest addition to Fieldston\u2019s Math Department, is an overflowing fountain of stories. Whether during Calculus class, somehow connecting derivatives to his fifth-grade soccer team, or in the hallway, commenting on an athletics dress up that reminds him of a graph, he always finds a way to associate math and the real world. Kaufman began his teaching career at 22 years old, fresh from his graduation at Yale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":10928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,644,318],"tags":[],"coauthors":[429],"class_list":["post-10926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-features","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-14-at-4.01.20-PM-e1734210191156.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10926"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10942,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10926\/revisions\/10942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10926"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=10926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}