David Buitenveld teaches mathematics at Nisqually Middle School in Lacey. He leads the math team, serves on the leadership and AVID teams, co-leads the Drama Club — no, he didn’t see that coming — , created the Green School Club and crafted an elective class, How to Change the World, where students explore purpose in life, and view education as empowering them to make change. In his spare time, he enjoys Latvian dance and has performed throughout North America and in Latvia.
After twenty years in information technology and co-founding a worker-owned cooperative, David wondered if there was a deeper purpose to his life than coding in cubicles and managing teams of developers. Seeking his calling through alternative careers including architecture and permaculture, he eventually discovered the joy of teaching during a year tutoring his niece in calculus, leading to a year volunteering at a private middle school. His calling now clear, David earned his Master in Teaching in 2015 — endorsed in secondary and middle-level mathematics and physics — later becoming a Google Certified Educator and Microsoft Innovative Educator. David achieved National Board Certification during 2018–2019.
Initially planning to teach high school, David realized that middle school is where students’ identities become entrenched, therefore, that was where intervention could have the largest impact. David goes well beyond helping students understand math. He shows students what it looks like to love learning, and when there are setbacks, he reminds students that they matter. A tradition in his classroom: after the first math test, everyone gathers on the floor to talk about failure as a critical part of learning, how to respond to a poor grade, and how a test score never changes their value. Afterwards, students have eight minutes to celebrate or grieve, then spend the rest of the period playing with Ozobots. Sometimes they even have cake.
