This year, we welcomed many new teachers to the Beth Tfiloh community. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing the new addition to Beth Tfiloh’s History Department: Mr. Acheson. Before teaching at Beth Tfiloh, Mr. Acheson taught for 26 years at Park School. Mr. Acheson not only taught at Park School but also taught at the American School in London and in Greenwich, Connecticut. 

This past year, Mr. Acheson took a year off from teaching where he walked across England and built his own boat. Although planning to take an extra year off, he decided that he would work here part-time after guest teaching a history class this past February. 

So far, Mr. Acheson has shown great appreciation for the shorter class periods of fifty minutes in comparison to his last school where classes ranged from seventy-five to ninety minutes. Regarding his experience thus far, Mr. Acheson told me how “the students are wonderful” at Beth Tfiloh. Mr. Acheson teaches two 9th-grade courses, one 10th-grade course, and the 12th-grade AP Comparative Government course. His goal is to help his students become better writers. 

In his free time, Mr. Acheson enjoys long walks during the morning. He also enjoys playing baseball, although he no longer plays on a team. He also plays guitar and is a member of a band. 

While in college, Mr. Acheson studied history as an undergraduate in Minnesota. Continuing into graduate school at Brown University, he studied history and social studies for his Master of Arts and Teaching. 

If he had not become a teacher, Mr. Acheson says he would have wanted to be a documentary filmmaker. In fact, after college, he made a documentary film in Japan about Japanese rituals at a temple in Kyoto. But once a past professor advised him to pursue teaching, he knew teaching was the best fit for him.