“Some … teachers will just be [at school] because it’s work … [and] that’s the only school that they can teach at … so they don’t feel like as if it’s like a privilege to be there. … Teachers at this school … know where we’re at, and we’re happy to be there,” math teacher Jacqueline Rosenfeld said.

This is Rosenfeld’s first year teaching at Classical Academy High School, and she teaches one section of Math 1 and three sections of Math 2. Initially, Rosenfeld went to college to pursue an engineering major, but then switched over to math. “It’s kind of funny because, growing up, I always told myself I would never be a teacher,” she said.

However, life had other plans for her — plans that began evolving when she started helping others. “When I was in college, I started tutoring a lot. …  I would tutor high schoolers and also college students.” For Rosenfeld, the revelation came when “I just recognized [that] I really enjoyed getting to see it click for someone [when] they were able to understand.”

“I took a lot of math in high school,” Rosenfeld said. “But in regards to teaching it, I just find it fun to do math so getting to teach it is that much better because I get to interact with students, they get to learn things while I also get to do math.”

Last year, Rosenfeld taught at King Chavez Community High School, which according to Rosenfeld has a completely different demographic and environment than Classical Academy High School. “[At King Chavez] … a lot of [students’] first language was Spanish, which made it a little difficult with the language barrier. But … it was a learning experience getting to teach students coming from a low income area.”

However, Rosenfeld first heard about an open math position at CAHS’s Studio program through Ty James, who initially interviewed for the position, but ended up taking a position at the Online campus teaching chemistry. . Ty James went through the same credential program as Rosenfeld, so “He told me about [the position], and that’s how I found out about this school,” Rosenfeld said.

When it comes to her teaching style, Rosenfeld tries to focus on meeting the needs of each individual student., “The main thing is to make sure that every student is cared for and that I’m there for support,” she said. “But then that’s kind of  how it is with this school in general, so I wouldn’t say that it’s different in that sense — more just different from the norm at other schools.”