In his second floor classroom in Gelb Science Center, Clyfe Beckwith, Instructor in Physics, derives an equation for simple harmonic oscillation with squares, triangles and smiley faces. After falling in love with Andover while teaching during Summer Session, Beckwith returned to the school to teach Physics in 1992.
Beckwith describes his teaching style at Andover as an “interactive lecture.”
“Every class is different because of the reactions the students have in my class. So if I have multiple sections, there isn’t a single day that one of the sections gets the same lecture that the other class does, partly because of the stories, partly because of the questions. We try to cover the same material, but it’s not the same,” said Beckwith.
“Clyfe loves using demonstrations during class, doing things like stringing bowling balls from the ceiling and standing on trays of glass,” wrote Casey Durant ’14, a current student of Beckwith’s, in an e-mail to The Phillipian.
“[Beckwith] is not afraid to poke fun at students, but that just means we feel free to have fun during class… at the beginning of every year of Physics, he plays this icebreaker logic game with the class involving dice and polar bears,” wrote Julie Zhou ’13, who has had Beckwith as an instructor for two years, in an e-mail to The Phillipian.
In class and around campus, Beckwith encourages his students to call him by his first name, Clyfe.
“When I first started teaching, some Physics 400 students put me on a pedestal of ‘Dr. Beckwith.’ That did not assuage the fear they felt learning physics. I asked them to think of me as a tutor instead of teacher,” wrote Beckwith in an e-mail to The Phillipian.
“So I asked my class whether they were more comfortable addressing me by first name. They did, [and] it stuck,” he continued.
Beckwith’s favorite moments teaching are when he is helping students. “When a student is struggling, and then later on suddenly gets it, having them come up to me with that smiling expression, and [them saying] that they think they’ve finally got it—that’s the reason to be a teacher,” he said.
Beckwith was born in The Hague, Netherlands, but grew up in Zurich, Switzerland, where he lived until he left to pursue his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College in 1987.
In addition to teaching physics, Beckwith has also taught a German conversation course at Andover for three terms, as he grew up speaking German.
“[Teaching German] got me back speaking in my mother tongue and thinking in my mother tongue, so on my way from Gelb to Sam Phil, I would think of German phrases and idioms. So I would come into class and teach students what I had thought of, and I would remember more,” said Beckwith.
Beckwith first came to Andover the summer after he graduated from Dartmouth to teach during Summer Session. “I liked being in an environment where teaching was valued,” said Beckwith.
“I went into grad school thinking, ‘[Teaching at Andover] is something I could do,’” he continued.
After finishing his Ph.D. at Boston College, he decided to become a physics instructor.
Currently, Beckwith is serving his third term on the Advisory Committee to the Head of School, and is one of three members on the Community Conduct Council (CCC), formerly known as the Harassment Council. The CCC oversees all reports and incidents of hazing and cyber-bullying on campus.
Beckwith also coaches both Girls’ and Boys’ Varsity Volleyball and serves as a house counselor in Allen House.
“[Clyfe] encourages us, he believes in us, he pushes us to do our best and makes us want to do better than our best. I think I speak for the team when I say that all we want is to make him proud because there is no other coach like him. He transforms players almost miraculously and creates an atmosphere and team spirit that is incomparable to anything else I have ever experienced as an athlete,” wrote Alex Becker ’15, a member of Andover Girls Volleyball, in an e-mail to The Phillipian.
“He motivates us with his German words, his enthusiasm, our team dinners at his house and by truly caring about us as a team and as individuals. He wants the best for everyone and is one of the most selfless people I have ever met… Basically, Clyfe is the man,” continued Becker.
From 2003 to 2011, Beckwith was also Dean of Flagstaff Cluster, which he said was a rewarding but challenging experience.
“It was a very difficult job, in the sense that the job involved resolving some of the more complicated problems,” Beckwith said.
“I suppose one of the most interesting aspects of the job was that I would tend to meet some students through the disciplinary system that ended up being students that I still stay in touch with,” he added.
“The anxiety of the [issues] were much higher for the Cluster Dean, but, in the long run, being Cluster Dean meant you could resolve problems, and that’s what I like doing.”
