First-year teacher finds his niche

A crowd of sophomores gathers nervously in front of room 506. It’s the first period of the first day of school. But this day is as important to history teacher Jim Chin as it is to the students — it’s his first day, too. 

Chin, one of the many new staff members this year, teaches World and U.S. History. He said he had been interested in history all throughout middle school and early high school.

“I think world history was my favorite [subject], although I wouldn’t think my teachers would say that because I was kind of the smart-alec in the corner,” Chin said. “I would correct them and say ‘Well actually, this is what happened …’ Sometimes I was right, but sometimes I would be wrong.”

Chin said he is “pretty awkward” and that students would probably describe him as a “nutty professor.” Chin said he is passionate about teaching and is happy to help his students “grow as writers and critical thinkers.” 

According to his students, Chin has odd sayings and tells entertaining stories about his life. 

“[Chin] told us about how in sixth grade, he was put in the Sparta city-state and was really sad about it, because Athens was supposed to be better,” sophomore Gerlou Shyy said. “But then he was like ‘but I got over it,’ and it was funny.” 

At another point during high school, Chin gained some notoriety around campus when he did a Gollum impression in class. 

Chin said that during his English class, he decided to act like Gollum from “Lord of the Rings.” He spent the entire day crawling around in his classes and “imitating the gravelling, high pitched and grammatically confused voice of Gollum.” Though he didn’t wear a costume, Chin said he acted like a typically eccentric high school student.

“I don’t know why the teacher didn’t report me for psychiatric care, because it was very weird thing to do,” Chin said. “I think that was the weirdest thing I’ve ever done in a class.” 

After high school, Chin chose to become a teacher, but couldn’t decide whether or not to become a professor and take Ph.D courses. He received his teaching credential from Stanford University.  

“I settled more into teaching high school students because you could potentially make more of a meaningful impact,” Chin said.

Chin bases his lessons on primary sources, documents written by people who actually lived through the historical event. He hopes to teach a college-styled class with more assigned writing. 

“Students can go to the source but also figure out what the reading is doing to them without getting suckered in,” Chin explained.

Chin himself does a lot of writing outside of school, having written short non-fiction essays and even some one-act plays.

According to Chin, writing, acting and directing have always been his passions. During high school, Chin played the part of Friar Lawrence in his school’s performance of “Romeo and Juliet.”

“[Theater] is an opportunity to create meaning for audiences and performers in such a visceral way,” Chin said. 

Chin has had the “good fortune” of having two of his plays, a film noir shadowplay and a romantic dramedy, produced and performed in college. He also had the opportunity to co-direct a one-act play called “World Without Memory.” 

According to Chin, the play is about a father and daughter dealing with Alzheimer’s. All of the the performers had family members with Alzheimer’s and connected with the story on a personal level. 

“A lot of audience members were moved, but none more so than the family of all the cast members, who all somehow found each other after the performance and were struck by what their sons and daughters achieved on stage,” Chin said.

Before coming to Saratoga, Chin worked as a teacher at Bentley Upper School in Lafayette for one and a half years. 

Chin is excited to be working at SHS and so far has had a great experience with the students and teachers.

“Saratoga is a great school where history teachers have some degree of freedom to teach what they are really passionate about,” Chin said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing students develop.”