About Sr. Plaut

My Home Life

I live with my wife Tanya Lieberman and our two children, Max and Reiko. We live in Muir Commons, a co-housing community in West Davis, where residents share common space and resources, eat weekly meals together, celebrate life, and generally take care of one another. It’s a fabulous place to live and raise a family. Tanya works in education policy and is the Chief Consultant for the CA Assembly Education Committee. Reiko is a 4^th grader at Chávez and Max is a 10^th grader at Davis Senior High.

Teaching Experience

I’ve taught for 18 years including 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th grade (I only do evens). In addition to classroom teaching I’ve worked as a specialist and as an instructional coach. Some students are surprised to learn that from 1998-2003 I was the Reading Specialist (not math!) at Chávez Elementary.

My Pastimes and Other Curiosities

My primary pastime is playing with my kids. I also enjoy playing board games, throwing a frisbee, swimming, cooking, reading kid lit, travelling to new places and being outdoors. My favorite color is green and my birthday is April 29. I have a one-eyed cat named Jack and I can juggle tennis balls but not flaming torches. My favorite ice cream flavor is Chubby Hubby (by Ben and Jerry’s). Once upon a time my hair flowed down to my shoulders.

Living Abroad (3 Truths and a Lie)

I have lived in 3 different countries outside of the U.S. See if you can guess which statement below is not true. Ask me at school:

1) I lived in New Zealand for 5 months working on organic farms, hiking, and working on a sheep-shearing gang.

2) During college, I studied abroad in Spain for 1 semester at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija.

3) I lived in Guatemala for 1 year and my first teaching job was at the American School of Guatemala, where I taught 6^th grade.

4) I lived in Taipei, Taiwan for one year as a Luce Scholar. I was assigned to work with the Ministry of Education on a math curriculum project. I studied Mandarin intensively when I was there.

Education

I majored in Economics at Haverford College.

I received my Masters degree in Education at UC Berkeley.

When I was in 6^th Grade

When I was in 6^th grade my favorite subject was math. I played Dungeons and Dragons. I also played basketball (so-so), soccer (so-so), and baseball (so-so). I didn't find my favorite sport (tennis) until junior high, which proves that you can start new activities and sports after elementary school. I loved puzzles and played the saxophone. I didn’t read very much but my favorite book was Danny, Champion of the World. I lived in a bucolic town in Western Massachusetts, where there were 4 real seasons. When it snowed in the winter, I would wake up early and sit by the radio to listen to the school closings to see if we had a snow day. My elementary school had a huge hill next to it and on snow days I would go to school and go sledding.

Becoming a Teacher

When I was in 7^th grade, I wanted to become a math teacher. When I was in 10th grade I wanted to become a Spanish teacher. When I was in 12^th grade I wanted to become a physics teacher. Stay tuned…