Mr. Daniel Gould

Science teacher Daniel Gould taught in Japan for a year before joining the ESA community. In his seventh year in Cade, he teaches eighth-grade earth science, ninth-grade physical science, and twelfth-grade physics. Originally from Grand Coteau, he has a B.S. in chemistry from UL Lafayette. Here’s our Q&A with Mr. Gould:

What do you love most about your days at ESA?

I love being a part of such a supportive, talented, and friendly community of faculty members. I love the creative freedoms that I have as a teacher. I love the beauty of our nature-filled campus. And I love all of the extra-curricular features of our school, the chapel program, the school trips and festivals, field day, falcon cup, and our sports teams.

How do you teach habits of scholarship and honor to your students?

I try to instill a joy of learning in my students. Our students are quite self-motivated to academically excel on a personal level, and I am always striving to pair the rigor of learning with a joy of discovery, which creates a positive feedback loop that leads to increased academic success, I believe and hope.

What is your favorite project, unit, assignment or routine that you have created in your curriculum?

To be very specific, I love my "Moon Phases and Time" activity that I do with the 8th graders in which the students use these boards that I created with a simple Earth-Moon-Sunlight system present. If you move the Moon model around the Earth keeping the light side of the Moon pointed at the Sun, you naturally discover the reason for the appearance of the different Moon phases when viewed from Earth. But also, using indicated time markings around Earth on the board, one can use a simple technique to logically deduce the time ranges that each Moon phases appears in during the night/day on Earth. There is a direct connection between the Moon phase and its time range of visibility. And once one taps into this, the Moon becomes a perfectly predictable friend appearing in the sky in predictable places in a reliable fashion, rather than some random (albeit beautiful) space object that one occasionally notices at random. Since I've tapped into this pattern that I teach to the students, I've never lost track of the Moon, and it continuously delights me.

What do you do outside of ESA that is part of who you are, feeds you joy, gives you purpose, or rejuvenates your soul?

I try to fill my life with many creative pursuits that bring me great joy. I love creating pieces of art, and I have had this love my whole life. For example, in recent years I completed a project of  medallions of laser-cut wood that I painted and stacked (to create a slight 3-D effect) into wall art that now decorates my classroom. Each piece has a theme fitting of my Earth Science classes. There is a medallion for each of the 4 seasons of a cherry blossom tree, and also for an oak tree. There is a medallion for a solar and lunar eclipse, and also a medallion for the waxing moon, waning moon, and a stand-alone great wave medallion.

I also really love playing music. I studied music when I was younger, in high school band, for example. But in recent years I've been heavily invested in playing the baritone ukulele and using it to accompany my singing. I really appreciate the beauty of acoustic string instruments, and I've started dabbling a bit with classical guitar as well. I also play the pennywhistle, which is great fun to bring on our 8th-grade Globetrek trip each year. Most of the music that I learn includes traditional music from many different cultures from around the world.

Also, because I live in a pretty rural, nature-filled area. I spend extensive time seeing to the land around me and maintaining trails that run around some fields and forests where I live. This gives me lots of time to bond with the natural world, and I have come to love all of the plants, trees, and critters that I live amongst.

Although I enjoyed this next thing back during college and just after, this past year I have gotten really involved in enjoying Cajun and Zydeco dancing. I find it's delightful fun, great exercise, a wonderful part of the local culture, and that there are many fun, nice, and cheerful people that regularly enjoy this dancing as well. Cajun and Zydeco dancing makes me realize what a special area we live in, full of wonderful people who love to love life.

If you had a year to study anything in the world, what would you be passionate about learning at this time in your life?

I would continue to pursue all of the things that I actively pursue anyways. My life philosophy is, if I want to gain a new skill or knowledge, I go for it! I would keep creating visual art, and every new art project is a learning experience. I would keep studying musical instruments and singing. And I would keep improving my Cajun and Zydeco dancing skills.

If it were something new that I am not currently actively pursuing, I believe I would spend a year to work on creating hand-drawn traditional animation. I'd like to make a short animated film, and I believe I would need a year to do it.

What would you tell a new parent/student or prospective parent/student about ESA?

I would tell them that ESA is a wonderful place full of amazing opportunities for the students, full of truly talented and invested faculty, and full of beautiful nature for a one-of-a-kind school experience. I could not imagine working at any other school, and I could not imagine sending my future children to any other school.