Eric “Drew” Bos, an athletic and a family man by heart, is the new special education teacher here at BFA. His job is to help co-teach students to better access their learning. 

He grew up in New England. 

“. . .I grew up in New Jersey actually, outside of Philly, and I moved in the middle of my sophomore year of high school. From NJ to NH, where I finished high school. For me it was very different than what you are used to here. I’d hang out with my brothers all the time, go to the pool. . . We had an outdoor pool actually, it was like a pool club. That’s where I spent most of my summers,” Bos said. 

But the lure of Vermont led him here.

 “I am from Massachusetts, and the reason why I moved from MA to VT is because VT has a lot more stuff that I like, that I love. So I love to ski, hike, and be outside. And the traffic in MA is just terrible, just awful. And I just like the VT air, it’s cleaner here,” Bos said. 

His interest in teaching came naturally.

 “When I was in high school, I used to help my friends and I like helping them, helping them through it. So that they would understand better. I heard a lot ‘You should be a teacher’ and I also really like working with kids, and being with kids, and just hanging out with kids. Teaching seemed pretty logical to me,” Bos said.

Drew Bos ended up going to Gordon college in MA for his teaching certificate in grade school history. Once he stepped out of college, he tried to look for any job openings but with no luck. 

Eventually he decided to look for a different branch of his desired career. 

“When I was in high school, I was in special education myself. I think that’s part of the reason why I wanted to go into special education because it really helped me become a fully independent learner,” Bos said. 

He hopes he can take his experiences and help others become independent learners too. 

So far, things have been going well.

 “My first day at BFA, let’s see… It’s kind of funny because for teachers you have to have some teacher training days. So my first day at BFA I was like a lost puppy, getting lost and I was learning where everything was in school. I was actually embarrassed to ask where the cafeteria was because I couldn’t find it, and apparently it was in the other building. It was good, everyone was really nice,” Bos said. 

His teaching methods include having students think problems through and explain themselves. 

“I like to ask kids questions, and get at the core of what they’re asserting. Sometimes I’ll tell a kid that maybe an answer  is wrong, but I’ll also ask questions so that they understand why something is wrong. So instead of saying something is wrong, and okay here’s a better way to do it, I might ask them to explain themselves so that they can start to understand why they’re wrong. Or justify why they did something, or maybe I’m wrong. So I like kids to explain themselves so that they can have a deeper understanding of the problem,” Bos said. 

Bos believes students learn best when their learning is self-directed and independent.

”Students learn best when their learning is self-directed and they can solve problems independently. I see myself as a facilitator of that, of being independent learners and solving problems themselves,” Bos said. 

He has a few words of advice for students. 

“You should take your classes seriously and that even if you don’t plan on going to college, grades and learning how to learn is really important. The number one reason we’re here in high school is we’re here to learn, because that’s how you learn. We need to know how to problem solve, and that’s what I would say is the number one most important thing is. Learn how to problem solve, learn to teach yourself to solve problems for the problems that come up in life,” Bos said. 

Bos has been married for five year and has a three year old daughter named Lila. 

Bos likes deep colors such as purple and loves to listen to alternative music. His favorite band is Kings of Leon. 

He is a hufflepuff and his patronus is a ferret. If he was a superhero, he would have the power to fly. 

If he had an elephant that he couldn’t give away or sell it, he would train it to give rides and charge people for it. 

“So I would train the elephant to give rides, so that I could ride it places and I could also charge people to ride it. I could make some money off of it  and then use it as my ride to get around town,” Bos said. 

Keep your eye out for Eric “Drew” Bos in the special education department!