Walk into Eric Henry P’28 teaching an Algebra 2 class, and you will see a group of students with knitted brows squinting in front of a whiteboard. The instructor behind them, with his unmistakable hair, bears a cheeky grin. Henry, who has been teaching at Concord Academy for three and a half years, brings a holistic philosophy of problem-solving and purpose to his classes — one he has developed after burning out at a software company and cutting his teeth in Boston public schools.
Eric Henry loves “vertical non-permanent surfaces,” a teaching approach that involves learning on whiteboards rather than desks. It is easy to remain hidden and anonymous at a desk, but in front of a whiteboard, students are enticed to be more collaborative and become better able to deal with complex problem-solving. Inspired by Peter Liljedahl in Building Thinking Classrooms, Henry’s “vertical non-permanent surfaces” create a learning environment where students practice the very same problem-solving skills that they will go on to use later in life. “If you don't practice solving new problems that no one's solved before, you're not going to be in a good place,” he said.
Henry is fond of quoting a surprised student who questioned him on his method. “Wait, instead of explaining the math and then asking us to do classwork and homework, you're asking us to do the problems first before we know how to do them?” In his view, learning in math is best experienced through problem solving, and confusion isn’t something to be looked down upon.
If you were at Henry’s chapel talk earlier this year, you would have met Derek, his AI doppelganger. Even though Henry believes that AI can prevent the thinking that results in learning, he also advocates for the many advances the technology brings. For instance, he posits feeding 400 chapel talk transcripts into Gemini in order to create a “portrait of a CA graduate,” providing us with new data on what it means to be an exemplary CA student. By feeding all these transcripts into AI, Eric hopes to figure out common ideals that the community aspires towards.
He believes one of these values is the fostering of common trust, which he believes is his second obligation, after teaching. Henry views common trust as bigger than just being able to leave your bag around campus without worry; he sees it as making deeper connections with the people around us.“[I see common trust as] supporting each other and really being able to have hard conversations,” he described. His message especially resonates in the wake of the recent loss in our CA community.
Henry advised, “Enjoy the environment [at CA], but don't think that what happens in the classroom is enough. Think even bigger about this place.” It’s clear that Henry has found his purpose in teaching, and his energy in the classroom reflects that commitment. The next time you pass him in the hallways or see him around campus, take a moment to say hello. He’s exactly the kind of person who makes those conversations worthwhile.