"I want to be learning all the time-I hope that desire to learn and understand rubs off on my students and on the teachers I work with."
Scott Daniel has taught math and science since 1989, and in the last few years Scott has moved out of the classroom somewhat (though not entirely) and into the world of information technology. Largely responsible for literally hundreds of machines in the building, Scott now claims as his students administrators, faculty and staff in addition to his Upper Schoolers. Scott's goal of helping teachers use technology in their classrooms has changed the face of the school.

Although at times Scott misses his role as full-time teacher, he enjoys the personalities of those who work at Barstow. "That's why Barstow kids have it so good; their teachers are not all the same. Each student here can find a teacher that they can talk to and will understand them." When in the classroom, Scott insists that he likes to have fun, even though "AP Physics is generally not regarded as the easiest class at the school."

Early in his career at Barstow, Scott participated in a Fulbright Teacher exchange program. He lived in Romania for a year, where he quickly dropped thirty pounds because of "a lack of junk food and the necessity to walk to get around in Tirgu Mures [the city in which he lived]." He considers it an enlightening experience: "Coming from a school where class size was about 10 to one where it was 30 was very challenging. I taught physics, English conversation and American culture classes. In one class, I was teaching the students 'Cotton Eye Joe' as a fun activity before Thanksgiving. Well, we ended up making too much noise and the principal came in and read my students the riot act in Romanian and walked out without even addressing me. I was sure they were going to send me home right then."

He survived the year, fortunately, and returned with a great appreciation for how little he had known about Romanian culture. These days when he is not fixing computers or working with students, Scott spends much of his time in the backyard with his three boys and watching and playing sports.

“I am a fisherman through to my heart. When I am on the river, I discover an inner peace that escapes me otherwise. The shape of the land, the movement of the water, the motion of my body to cast my line all meld together into a beautiful sameness. My family has begun a saying when fishing—be like Aaron. Zen fishing.”

Aaron Atwood-Blaine joined Barstow’s faculty in 2003 as the Lower School Technology Coordinator serving grades K-5. Originally from California, Aaron’s family (parents and younger twin brothers) moved to Seattle then Houston, finally settling in Anchorage, Alaska. It was there that this avid outdoorsman emerged, becoming a die-hard fisherman during Alaska’s magical, midnight-sun summers. In winter, Aaron loved to snowboard. His fondest memories of Alaskan winters include sitting atop a mountain quietly watching the surreal red and orange sunset “with a board strapped to my feet knowing that I will soon challenge my safety by standing up and pointing myself downhill.”

A graduate of the University of Alaska, Aaron earned a BA in Computer Science in 1993. After substitute teaching in Nenana, AK for a year (“everything from preschool to high school shop class!”), Aaron realized that teaching was an artistic endeavor not unlike his other life passions fishing and snowboarding: it requires vision, flexibility, creativity, patience, and well…guts. He returned to school in 1997, earning a MAT degree from the University of Alaska.

Aaron’s experience with developing a comprehensive gifted program when he lived in Nevada, coupled with his most recent MA in Educational Psychology—Gifted Education from the University of Connecticut, are foundational to his teaching philosophies. He understands that students learn at various speeds and depths, and that a teacher’s effectiveness resides in his ability to find the balance between challenging the swiftest learners and supporting those who need additional help.

In his classroom, Aaron also strives to make learning real, meaningful, and practical for students by creating authentic experiences that bridge the gap between school and life. The unique role of the technology teacher is to support learning in the regular curriculum by enabling students to use the invisible “technology tool” to deepen and broaden their own understanding. According to Aaron, helping his students to make connections, whether individually, in a small group, or as a class, is tantamount to their overall learning experience. The ability to synthesize a dynamic and flexible set of knowledge and apply that knowledge in many circumstances is Aaron’s ultimate objective for his students.

In his precious spare time, Aaron enjoys reading the novels of Robert Jordan, William Gibson, and Orson Scott Card. He is also a fan of role-playing computer games, and loves recreational physics, Albert Einstein-style. “I try to understand what it means to travel at the speed of light—how the paradox of slowing time for individuals relates to relative speed of one. You know, fun things.”