James Earle

James is the lead humanities teacher in the SoMa Middle School, and takes great pride in leading students through classic texts such as The Iliad or Julius Caesar (or anything Shakespeare). He loves teaching history through artifacts like great paintings or architecture, and never hesitates to use a primary text. He also has experience helping students manage long-term passion projects from the conception of an idea to the display of a final product.

Prior to working at AltSchool James attended the University of London, where he studied Renaissance History. For the next seven years, James worked as a ninth grade cultural history teacher at the Ross School in East Hampton, New York. He coached soccer, helped start a boarding program, and served as the chair of the history department for much of his time at the Ross School. James was voted Teacher of the Year by faculty in 2010. In 2012, YouTube named James a YouTube EDU Guru for his interdisciplinary art history channel AmorSciendi. Most of the videos appearing on the channel are collaborations with students who designed the logo, wrote background music, and helped write the scripts. He’s also worked consistently with TED-ed on animated lessons. For James, education never ends. Between teaching on Long Island and coming to AltSchool he earned an MS from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy.