Allen Scheier is an Adjunct Instructor in Mathematics. Before coming to Andover, he spent more than 40 years teaching in public schools across Lawrence, Massachusetts, and also taught as an Adjunct Professor at Bentley University and Southern New Hampshire University. Scheier enjoys golfing, reading, gardening, and travelling in his spare time.
How did you become interested in teaching mathematics?
I was an engineering major in college, and I realized halfway through that I didn’t really like it very much. I had taken a summer job working at a camp, and I found out I liked working with kids and that I could get a master’s degree and become certified to teach in one year. So, after finishing my degree in engineering, I went right back to school, got a Master’s in education, started teaching, and realized that I loved teaching and have been doing it ever since.
You have taught a diverse range of people, from public schools to universities. How do you adapt your teaching style to suit different age groups or academic levels?
Kids are kids in general. I taught in Lawrence for many years, which is one of the poorest communities in Massachusetts, and has one of the most dysfunctional school systems in Massachusetts. There are a whole lot of problems associated with that… But kids are still kids. Everybody deals with a lot of the same stuff growing up, the same insecurities, the same challenges, the same emotions. So if you try to reach out to kids and get to know them and be positive and encourage them [and] be supportive, whatever teaching style I choose to use works.
You have published a study that aimed to find how students’ perception of school influenced their educational, developmental, and work experiences. What prompted you to research this?
After teaching for a few years, I decided I wanted to learn more about education and schools, and I was teaching in a vocational school in Lawrence at the time…I went back and got a doctorate in education, in policy and administrative studies, essentially, because at the time, I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue teaching or if I wanted to teach college or run a school. I was more interested in education as a whole. Since I worked at a vocational school at the time, I was very interested in how students chose a career path, why they chose it, and whether or not they were actually using what they were learning in the vocational school…I discovered that most of the kids who went there were actually happy they went there because they found it very engaging. Vocational education engages students who may not necessarily be that engaged by academics.
How has your experience in vocational education shaped your philosophy in teaching?
One of the things I learned is that one of the things that young people struggle with the most is trying to decide what they want to be when they grow up. I, for one, did that. I didn’t decide I wanted to be a teacher until I actually tried being a teacher. When I was in high school, I never imagined I’d become a teacher, so understanding that teenagers, high school students, have a lot on their minds, and one of the things they have on their minds is, “What am I going to be when I grow up?”, and understanding that everybody goes through that dilemma, and people change their minds all the time, and that’s okay and normal…Learning about how people decide on what they want to be when they grow up and the struggles they go through is important. I’m very happy I did that and happy I worked at a vocational school. It gave me a very different perspective, just like working in a public school, and working here is giving me a different perspective.
If you weren’t a teacher or professor, what other career could you see yourself in?
I don’t think I could see myself in another career. I can tell you that when I was in college, I was studying engineering, and specifically I studied nuclear engineering. What I was really interested in was solar power back then. I was interested in actually how we produce energy. This is 40 years ago now. We’d been coming out of an energy crisis, and there was a lot of talk about alternative energy. So I was really interested in alternative energy, at that time, solar energy… I considered going to law school. I considered going to study governmental policy. I looked at the Kennedy School at Harvard and Tufts has a program in environmental policy, (at least they did back then). So that was sort of the alternative, which was using my engineering background in some way to advocate for alternative energy sources, but I’m very happy with the choice I made.
What has been one of the biggest challenges you have faced in your teaching career, and how did you try to overcome it?
In teaching in an urban environment, kids come to school with a lot of baggage sometimes. I’ve had a number of students who have children at home or who are going to have children. I’ve had children whose family members are in jail. I’ve had students who are homeless. Teaching in an urban environment is very different, and if you’re going to be effective, you have to become a social worker sometimes. You have to recognize that sometimes things going on outside the classroom are more important than whatever you’re trying to teach…That’s one of the reasons why I came here when I was a visiting scholar, which was important to me. There is a difference between teaching a student who comes from an urban environment and from a suburban environment. One of the reasons I came here then was to educate the math department a little bit about what some of those differences are. Knowing that does help me as a teacher.
Are there any lessons students have taught you during your career?
Many lessons. I’m constantly learning from them. It’s constant from learning the latest slang terms and technology. Again, my students know far more about ChatGPT and AI than I do. In fact, I have still never used it. In learning about people, I believe that it’s important as a teacher to connect with my students, to get to know them, for them to get to know me, for me to be approachable, so that they know that I support them. I’m constantly learning about them and about what they’re bringing into the classroom and their challenges. Teaching to me is not just about the subject you teach. It’s about the students.
What’s a hobby or a skill you’re passionate about?
I like to play golf. As I’ve gotten older, I used to play tennis and basketball, but I find that in golf, I’m far less likely to hurt myself. I like to read. I like to garden. I like to travel. What I’m really passionate about is teaching. Like I said, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love doing it. I love teaching here. I’ve loved teaching in my other jobs too, but I do love teaching here, and I will continue to do it as long as they want me to do it, and as long as I feel like I can do it and be effective.
You mentioned you like to read. What’s your favorite book?
I probably have three favorite books. One is “The Phantom Tollbooth,” which is more of a children’s book, but I love it. There’s a book called “Illusions,” and there’s a book called “The Fountainhead,” which is somewhat controversial these days. The author, I don’t know if you’re familiar with her, it’s a long story, but it’s still one of my favorite books.
What is one piece of advice or wisdom you would give to students?
Things are never as important as you think they are at the present time. People worry. People here especially are very worried about their grades. A year after you leave here, nobody’s going to care. You’re not going to care anymore how you did whether you got that five, that six or that four in [MTH320]. At the moment, it seems like it’s very important in the big picture. It’s never as important as you think it is.
