Welcome to the Teacher's Lounge!

In this new weekly series, we sit down with CEC teachers/staff to ask 7 questions that help our community get to know them better.

This weeks featured guest is CEC EAST Facilitator, Mr. Josh Beauchamp!
 

What is your favorite thing about being a teacher?
My favorite thing about teaching is watching kids develop skills and expertise in areas that they come in knowing nothing about. When they get excited about learning something new (and then can show other students how it works), it makes my day!

Do you have a teaching "motto"?
My teaching philosophy is a quote taken from Tim Stephenson, the founder of EAST: "You're never very far away from a good education once you decide you want one." I think kids need to take ownership of what they want to learn, and figure out how to make those lessons work for them.

What are your goals as a teacher?
My goal is that students learn to take risks, get things wrong and figure out what they need to fix without relying on someone else to fix it for them.

What is one thing a teacher said/did that you have never forgotten?
The most impactful thing was when a teacher in college told me after an exam, "If you're going to keep doing things like that, you should change your major." It was hard to hear (especially since he was also the department chair), but I went back and worked REALLY hard to make sure that I was ready the next time he had the chance to see my work. It was the first time that someone had truly held me accountable for my education, and the first real challenge that mattered to me, personally and professionally.

What is the greatest success you've had in teaching?
The greatest success I've had in teaching is when students return to tell me that something I said or did in class helped them in a situation years after I said it or we did it in class. Working in education, it's hard to see if you've made an impact, and those are the times that remind me that I have.

What are you currently reading for enjoyment?
I just finished "Gang Leader for a Day", by Sudhir Venkatesh, about his graduate work in Chicago housing projects. There is a stack of books that I got for Christmas that I'll be getting through, although most of the titles escape me now.

What is a little-known/unique fact about you?
In many ways, I'm kind of an open book, so nothing is "little-known." My father was in the Army, so I guess that it's unique that when I was 19 and moved out for college (I started living at home), it was the 16th time I had moved. I lived in Korea and Germany when I was a kid, as well as many places in the U.S. 
 

Mr. Beauchamp holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies (Guitar) from Temple University and a Professional Science Master's in Geographic Information Systems, also from Temple University (Go Owls!).