When walking into room 3485 in the fall, many were surprised when they were greeted by a new teacher. After exchanging confused glances with classmates, questions soon arose. However they differed, every question tied into one specific mystery: Who is “Mr. Dayton?”
Mr. Jack Dayton grew up in Minnesota and attended The Blake School until 10th grade when he transferred to a boarding school in Connecticut. It was what he called “one of the best experiences of [his] life” because he felt a “familial” sense about the school.
After graduating high school, Dayton attended Occidental College as a Media Arts & Culture major. He found his major to be interesting but was not completely in love with the intense protocol involved with the [media] production side of his major. Even so, because of his familiarity with videography and editing, he “worked on a lot of really fun music videos in Los Angeles with Young Thug, Gunna, and other artists…for five, almost six years.”
After he fell out of love with his major, Dayton had to find another major that he enjoyed. He particularly enjoyed his English classes with Professor James Ford III, who specialized in Black Studies. After taking a class with him called ‘Black Musicality’, Mr. Dayton knew he wanted to study English for the rest of his time at Occidental.
Dayton credits his desire to become a teacher to Ford because he was the one who showed him, “how influential a teacher can be on a life and a way of thinking.” He also credits the summers he spent teaching at a surf camp in New Hampshire and Malibu, California as another reason why he became a teacher.
Dayton began teaching in 2019 while earning his master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California (USC). In his first formal teaching job, he taught eleventh and twelfth grade English but had previously taught English in South Africa while earning his undergraduate degree. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he taught second grade, which he found to be educational, but not what he wanted to do forever. Dayton then spent two years teaching at Robert F. Kennedy High School in Los Angeles, where he taught 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English, as well as a class for students learning to speak, read, and write English.
After all that, he accepted a job at AHA. By doing so, Dayton made an abrupt transition from teaching English to teaching computer science and the digital arts. He explained that this seemingly unusual transition wasn’t unusual at all. His true educational passion, even as an English teacher, was “how best to incorporate technology” because in his eyes, the classroom needs to be structured utilizing today’s technology. In addition, teaching computer science has given Dayton more opportunities to introduce Artificial Intelligence and other computational tools in the classroom.
Outside of the classroom, Dayton enjoys reading and spending time outside with his dog, Lily, and his wife. He also enjoys playing competitive pick-up games with his friends including playing pond hockey during this past winter. In addition, Dayton enjoys watching Minnesota sports, especially the Timberwolves. He says, “They’re playing very well and they’re very entertaining to watch [and] as Michael Grady would say, ‘Two words: Naz Reid.’”
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Exciting news! Dayton’s noticeable absence is a result of the birth of his first born child, Isabel. He has just returned from paternity leave, and is loving life with a newborn daughter.
Sophomore Abby Berlute said, “I’m happy that he had a baby, but I’m sad because he made the class fun. He can always tell when we’re upset. He’s great at sympathizing with his students.”
As sophomore Gavin Coughlin said, “He’s going to be a good dad!”
Lastly, Dayton will be teaching English next year in addition to Computer Science!
