Lucas Elbaum, Pivot’s English Language Development Teacher, has been part of the Pivot family for only a short while, but he brings global experience and expertise to serve our students.
After graduating with a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Chatham University, Lucas kicked off his career in education teaching English to students in the Andes region of Ecuador. His next teaching job would lead him to the Galápagos Islands, where he worked with classrooms full of students from all over the world at an international school focused on sustainability. Upon returning to the United States, Lucas taught in Pittsburgh until he joined the San Francisco Unified School District, working with multilingual families. These experiences culminated this past March, when Lucas discovered Pivot.
Based on his previous teaching experiences, Lucas was no stranger to a non-traditional classroom and recognized Pivot’s unique strengths in the virtual and hybrid learning environments.
“Pivot provides the educational setting that many students have been searching for, and it allows them to flourish, explore and even exceed what they believe they are capable of,” says Lucas. “During Covid, I saw firsthand how multilingual students gained fluency in technology much faster through remote learning than they had in person for decades.”
Currently, Lucas works two days a week at the Pivot North Bay campus, where he teaches a foundational English language development class and provides one-on-one language support. The rest of his week, Lucas hosts online workshops across all four Pivot campuses. He also regularly communicates with students and families over text and email to help translate, explain and support linguistically wherever he can.
“I love seeing the progression of students joining Pivot that start out more shy and reserved, but within a few weeks are much more comfortable and express themselves in ways they never have before,” says Lucas when describing the connections he has created with students. “When a student reaches out to me for help understanding an assignment, I know I have done my part to let them know I am here for them and their success.”
Lucas looks forward to every day that he gets to instruct his students and takes pride in creating a safe, supportive learning environment that fosters success and growth. Pivot is thankful to have Lucas on our team and cannot wait to see our students continue to benefit from his teaching.