The KO community extends their warmest welcome to new Upper School math teacher Brendan Smith. Mr. Smith is a recent graduate from Tufts University, where he studied the history of science mathematics. This involved diving into subject matters such as formal logic and the philosophy of science, as well as studying the work of great mathematicians like Newton and his successors.
Although he is fresh out of college, Mr. Smith has had experience working with others in an educational environment. He was a teaching assistant and tour guide throughout his time at Tufts and applied for teaching positions upon graduating. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” Mr. Smith said. “It’s the only career idea I have had consistently.”
Outside of the classroom, Mr. Smith is the robotics coach, which is a somewhat new experience for him. He worked as an intern at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and a lot of what he learned about robotics was from his work there, where he built underwater robots. Mr. Smith was also a physics minor, so he is hopeful that both his past internship and his physics knowledge will assist him in coaching the robotics team.
Mr. Smith’s goals for his first year at KO are to be able to improve as an educator and to be able to help students thoroughly and confidently learn their material. “I’m learning how to teach just as the students are learning how to learn,” he said.
Mr. Smith was drawn to KO because of the community and the strong connection between students and teachers, and he has really seen these connections shine during his time on campus thus far.
We are so excited to see the wealth of knowledge Mr. Smith will bring to the KO community and wish him the best of luck this year!
