As sines of summer approach, students wave goodbye to math teacher Aaron Thompson

Ariella Frommer Staff Writer

“Mr. Thompson has made the material in my math classes more accessible than any other teacher I’ve ever had in my life,” Sam Perlman (12) said. “It’s not like he’s trying to get you or give you a poor grade or make things difficult for you. He really wants you to learn the math.” After eight years at the school, Thompson will be moving to Philadelphia.

Thompson moved to New York and started teaching at the school in 2015 after serving as the math department chair of St. George’s Independent School in Memphis, Tennessee.

The most rewarding part of his time at the school has been watching students’ apply what they learn, Thompson said. “To see students using what you’re teaching, finding a real use for it, and finding a way to make the world a better place with it is the most exciting part.” Thompson especially appreciated Jiyon Chatterjee’s (12) presentation about economics at the student showcase assembly on May 23 because he used information that he learned in Statistics and Probability to unpack a deeper issue that he cared about.

Thomson’s favorite class to teach was Precalculus with Theory Honors because it forced him to grow as a teacher, he said. “I’ve taught precalc many, many times before, but, for example, looking into ‘cookies and kids’ and some of these other hard problems — I had never posed these questions to high schoolers before.”

Thompson handled the daunting lesson of spirographs in Precalculus with Theory Honors particularly well, Perlman said. “The big thing for me was how he showed us how the calculator could do most of the heavy lifting, as long as we understood what was going on behind the scenes.”

Thompson explains the intuitions behind formulas very well, Sophie Li (11) said. “During precalc, there was a lot of 3D thinking involving matrices and determinants that can be difficult to visualize, but he explained them in a very intuitive way.”

In Rose Korff’s (10) Precalculus with Theory Honors class, Thompson makes lessons fun and memorable. For example, when the class was learning sequences and series, they did problems with Legos. “He lets us figure it out conceptually first before he teaches us the math content,” Korff said. The answer to the Lego problem ended up being the Fibonacci sequence.

Thompson also adapts his teaching to his students’ needs, Korff said. “He really makes sure that everyone understands the problem so he’ll try explaining it in different ways.”

It is clear that Thompson is super knowledgeable and has a large passion for math, Gabe Jaffe (11) said. “Whenever I meet with him, I’ll ask him a question and he’ll tell me all these other things he’s thinking about with math and show me videos.”

When the school eliminated Advanced Placement (AP) classes, Math teacher Linda Itani and Thompson spent the summer working together to create the new Statistics and Probability course. Thompson proposed the addition of a linear regression and analysis project, which teaches students how to work with Microsoft Excel. “He knows it’s a necessary tool for the students, especially now that we aren’t catering to the AP exam,” Itani said.

As his colleague, Itani has noticed how flexible Thompson is. “He is always there when you need him, and although he enjoys teaching some classes more than others, he is never specific about what he wants to teach,” she said. “He’s all about the greater good of the department.”

Whenever Thompson covered Itani’s classes, she knew they were in good hands, she said. “If anything, I was nervous that when I came back, they would say that they wanted Mr. Thompson back.”

Apart from academics, Thompson is a fun guy who makes class enjoyable for his students, Perlman said. “Number one, he always wears fun shirts to class, which makes me super happy because who doesn’t love fun shirts?” Thompson is also a stand-up comedian. “Now and then, his humor will shine through, and it lightens up the mood a lot,” Perlman said.

Thompson will leave a legacy behind in the school, the math department, and his students, Jaffe said. “He’s a really well-respected math teacher who knows what he’s doing, who cares about his students, and who is a great explainer.”

Moving on from the school is bittersweet, he said. His husband recently received a promotion so they must move closer to the company’s headquarters in Philadelphia.

Thompson has started to look at education and math jobs in Philadelphia, but he has not made a final decision on what his future will look like after leaving the school. “This has been an opportunity for me to grow as an educator and I certainly hope that I can use the skills that I developed here with wherever I decide to land next.”