Walking past the math rooms on the first-floor math wing this fall, the classrooms are filled with chalkboards covered in graphs, lectures passing out homework, and papers filled with eraser marks.  However, one major thing is different. The banners, the Rubik’s cubes, and the scribbles on windows of room 154 are not as they were. Instead, the walls are decorated with the greek alphabet and bookshelves and the chair in the northwest corner of the room sits math department’s newest member: Upper school math teacher Ethan Levine, hired to replace former upper school math teacher Sven Carlsson, who no longer teaches, but serves instead as the new Middle School and Upper School Director of Curriculum in the school.

Levine brings an energetic persona. Towering above his students, Levine is recognizable by his height anywhere down the hallway. Levine teaches junior and freshmen classes in Algebra and Advanced Pre-Calculus, respectively, and has high hopes of applying his previous teaching experiences and Beacom Academy to Parker’s mold.

The math teacher has already had wide acceptance from his students and colleagues. After working at Beacon, Levine was drawn to teach at a more progressive and spirited school and decided to take another step in his career.

“Everyone has made me feel welcome so far, which is great,” Levine said. “People seem excited about the fact that there are new people, which is very nice. I knew all of my students’ names by the end of the first day, which made me feel very comfortable. I’m starting to feel like I’m at home already.”

According to SIRB head Zuri Mabrey-Wakefield, Levine was exceptionally likable from the beginning. “When I interviewed him last year, I think my impression was that he was very energetic and outgoing,” Mabrey-Wakefield said. “He’s very student-based in the way he approaches education. He is just excited to be doing math and to be teaching students. We could see from the start that he would be someone to take the role Mr. Carlsson was leaving.”

His goal for his students is to share his excitement in math class. He believes that math has inherent ways of piquing interest. He is looking forward to a great first year at Parker.

Carlsson anticipates the same. “During the interview process on Skype, I was really impressed by him,” Carlsson said. “He has a great philosophy of how to teach math. We are a community with traditions, so it is helpful that he knows what good teaching is, so that he has a solid foundation.”

Before teaching at Parker, Levine taught math and coached basketball at three different schools in Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Evanston. Levine is looking to coach at Parker if he has the opportunity. He grew up in Albany, New York and attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate and for graduate school.

Levine’s fascination with math developed when he was growing up. “My big brother was my first math teacher,” he said. “Math was a source of recreation growing up. Doing math has never been work for me. To me it’s entertaining in the same way a crossword puzzle is entertaining.”

Levine appreciates that he can bring his own approach into the classroom and receive feedback from the students. “He has a lot of strengths. His experience will help,” Carlsson said. He exudes the genuine care for students, which is super important. Mathematically speaking, he knows a lot of math, and he enjoys math.”

Levine also suggested that he may want to implement some of his own traditions into the math community. In addition to basketball, Levine hinted to starting at scholastic bowl team. “I know we don’t have a scholastic bowl team here yet,” he said. “I’m sort of a big trivia nerd, so it would be fun to see if there’s interest.”

Junior Sarah-Jayne Austin says Levine’s teaching style is hands-on. “Mr. Levine does not do very many notes,” she said. “He mainly does class work and group work, so you have to figure out how to do things on your own. I really like it.”

Carlsson feels that Levine’s first year at Parker will give him exposure to a variety of people, and he will love the fact that this school wants more out of students than just grades. “Teachers here, we fundamentally love what we teach,” he said. “I think that’s what will ultimately make him successful.”