photo courtesy of Feroze Munshi
Lick Wilmerding Physics teacher Feroze Munshi will be leaving the school after this year with plans to return to his work as a teaching consultant. Munshi, who joined the school in 2018, is well liked by students and faculty alike. Lick Junior Nick Wilsey ‘21 described him as a teacher “who was really invested in all of his students,” and who “made the material very interesting.”
Munshi has had many years of experience in education, having been a teacher and a teaching consultant for many years, as well as a doctoral candidate in education policy. During his consulting work, Munshi worked with an organization called PBLWorks, where he would support teachers across the country with curriculum development and instruction. PBL stands for project based learning, and the organization, according to their website, offers “a variety of workshops and support services for teachers, school and district leaders, and instructional coaches to get started with Project Based Learning.”
Munshi also studied education policy and organization in a PhD program at UC Berkeley. As a part of the program, he did a lot of research on school organization.
After traveling the country for a while—he visited about 20 states as a consultant— Munshi decided to return to the classroom. “I had an itch to go back,” he said. Munshi, who has worked mainly at public schools throughout his career, observed that Lick “was not, professionally speaking, my typical home.” The culture and wealth of the school was new to him. “It has sort of expanded my cultural vision,” he said.
Lick Senior Ariana Holmes ‘20 said that she appreciates Munshi’s commitment to preparing students for the next level. His goal is not only to make students understand physics at a high school level but also to prepare students to be able to handle physics on a college level,” she said.
Holmes also enjoys how Munshi “applies physics to things that are not only relevant to the science world, but also in our everyday lives.”
Munshi now feels ready to move on from the classroom. He would like to return his previous work of supporting teachers and schools,but without the travel element. “Traveling is tough with young kids, he said. “I don’t want to be away from my family.”
During his time at Lick, Feroze has appreciated the gratitude of his students as well as the diversity and experience of the faculty. “ I don’t think that I have spent enough time around educators who have significantly more experience than me, and so that is nice,” he said. “People have a lot of interesting stories to tell.”
