After his students sat down on the first day of school, looking at nothing but his students’ faces, math teacher Tom Lee recited the attendance by memory, knowing the first and last name of each student in alphabetical order.
Lee has made this practice a trademark ever since he came to South seven years ago.
South and Brandeis alumnus Rostic Gorbatov, a former student of Lee’s, looks back fondly on his time in Lee’s class.
“I was his first class and even then he had his act together pretty well,” Gorbatov said. “Now he has got his act together, that’s for sure. I always thought he should do seminars for all the other teachers … his thoughts on teaching are much better than anyone else at South or even at Brandeis.”
Senior Alex Pearce, a student from Lee’s junior honors math class last year, also appreciates Lee’s unique teaching methods. “I learned more in his class than I have in any other math class. Furthermore, I understood what I learned.”
“He gets very excited about math, which is nice because you can tell that he loves what he's doing” junior Sarah Blumenthal, a current student in Lee’s junior math class, said. “Class is very relaxed, yet we still manage to get through everything.”
“I am the biggest cheerleader for my students,” Lee said.
Lee's immense control over the classroom and ease with his students is unique for his mere seven years of teaching. Before working at South, Lee worked as an insurance actuary at John Hancock for 25 years. When he was able to retire from the corperate world, he decided to try teaching part-time.
However, it is this corporate past that has allowed him to appreciate his time teaching at South. A retired Lee does not rely on the money he makes as a teacher, so his outlook on his time at South is different than most teachers.
Teaching is something he does purely for enjoyment. “I don’t call it work, I call it concentrated play,” he said. “I’m not here for the money. I was fortunate to be able to retire, and I had always dreamed of teaching; I love it.”
“You hear a lot of times people burn out from their jobs; I didn’t. I just got a chance to reinvent myself,” Lee said.
Lee’s older sister, Andrea Lee, a university administrator and former teacher, has always thought Lee would make a good teacher. When she was teaching and Lee was still in college, Andrea suggested that Lee think about a career in education.
“I said ‘why don’t you get teaching credentials,’ and he kind of laughed at me because he was headed towards the corporate world,” Andrea said.
She was not surprised when he decided to turn to teaching. “He has natural instincts that would make him good in a classroom,” Andrea Lee said. “But every teacher needs to learn some, so he was willing to.”
Perhaps more than willing. In addition to looking to his colleagues and sister for teaching advice, Lee took classes at Harvard Extension to re-learn the Junior Honors curriculum. “I had vague distant memories of sine and cosine,” Lee said. “I wasn’t using trig at my job before, and I certainly wasn’t using polar coordinates.”
After relearning the Junior Honors math curriculum, Lee began his first year as a classroom teacher with “zero training in teaching.”
Gorbatov, however, was impressed with Lee’s teaching ability. “I enjoyed math always, but the structure of his class was, on one hand, awesome because there was not too much work involved, but on the other hand, it is just a brilliant theory on teaching,” Gorbatov said.
Since then, Lee has been studying for his masters at UMASS, but his outlook on teaching has remained the same.
“He has a deep respect for his students, and he sees himself as a guide rather than someone who tells you what you have to do,” Andrea said.
Mutual respect with his students allows for Lee’s classroom to maintain a comfortable environment for his students.
“The class dynamic is very relaxed, informal and fun. If you are in that class, you enjoy what you are doing and are excited to learn and hear what Mr. Lee has to say or teach. He treats us as equals, rarely asserting his 'dominance' over us,” Pearce said.
Much of this respect is credited to Lee being a student himself. “I’m in my second year at UMASS and I’m in no rush to get my masters.” Lee said.
The strong bond that Lee forms with his students encourages his students, such as Gorbatov, to keep in touch with Lee after high school.
“I never had to think twice about sending him an email,” Gorbatov said. “With teachers, there is a student teacher barrier, but I don’t think anyone felt it ever. He was just so kind and easy going.”
Gorbatov still talks to Lee on a regular basis, and they meet up occasionally for dinner.
“It is amazing to get his perspective on life and how to conduct yourself, how to achieve your goals. It is something I’ve taken to heart a little. It has been a good life lesson,” Gorbatov said. “I would call him a mentor, and I consider him a friend.”
Although not every South student has crossed paths with Lee, his individualism as a teacher from a completely different career has drawn in every student he ever called from the attendance sheet.
“He fits the profile and attitude of the archetypical teacher so well that one could hardly guess that he had some previous occupation completely unrelated to teaching beforehand,” Pearce said. “His relationship with the students and his aptitude as a teacher are to a degree that are hardly found in even the most instructed teachers.”
