The Parker Science Department is home to beloved teachers, rigorous classes, and the notoriously difficult physics class—tales of which are passed down to underclassmen. This year, Upper School math teacher Christopher Riff is switching to the Science Department to teach three sections of Advanced Physics I.
Riff has an extensive history in both math and physics and a love for both subjects. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics and then acquired a PhD in physics. He first taught at Knox School, a boarding school in Long Island, where for eight years he taught both math and physics. He has also spent nine of his 24 years at Parker teaching physics, but he has never taught exclusively in the Science Department.
Riff chose to move departments in order to continue teaching the subject he had spent so many years learning. “I have always wanted to continue teaching physics, as well as mathematics, so when I was asked by the administration if I was willing to help fill a vacancy for the coming year, I said yes,” Riff said. He also shared that his “long-term preference would be to teach both physics and mathematics.”
This year, he will bring his prior math knowledge to Advanced Physics I. Riff’s expertises in the subjects greatly inform his teaching. He shared, “I have always loved mathematics, and my graduate work in physics was highly mathematical. When I teach math, I bring a lot of my physics background to the class.” He added that “it is helpful in that I have an understanding of where students are in their mathematical understanding,” and that this is useful in “knowing where misunderstandings might be and how to address them.”
Riff cares not only about the subjects he teaches but the act of teaching as well. “I really enjoy simply being in the classroom and the back-and-forth working with students. Regardless of whatever else is going on in the day or how worn out I might be feeling, while in the classroom all that gets set aside for an hour.” He loves the “variety of teaching,” and the fact that “even within the same class, different students have different questions and ideas, so I am constantly learning as well.”
Riff has been making use of his free time this summer by working through his reading list which includes works by P.G. Woodhouse, Agatha Christie, sections of the Federalist Papers, and “The Hunter” by Tana French. “I love the freedom to have time to do things I have difficulty getting to during the school year,” Riff said.
Though Riff is merely moving down the hall, some of his former students are feeling the effect. “Dr. Riff was a great precalc teacher,” senior Elle Greenstein said. “I’m surprised he’s making the switch from the math department to science.”
“Dr. Riff’s class really opened my eyes to empathetic teaching,” senior Naia Trukenbrod said. “He cared deeply for his students and their improvement.” She will be sad to see him move departments this year, stating that “the switch from calculus to physics is really a blow to me as he was supposed to be my teacher again this year.” Both students seem to agree that Riff’s physics students will be lucky to have him as their teacher.
