New math teacher Xianxiu Xie a relationship-builder

On a typical morning, new math teacher Xianxiu Xie likes to go for a run or a hike before work. She teaches Topics in Math 1, a foundational math skills class, and Academic Skills.

Xie majored in engineering at Smith College, graduating in 2018. After graduation, she worked as a tutor in AmeriCorps Campus Compact, a partnership program between Smith College and Holyoke Public Schools, and eventually became a math teacher two years after graduating from Smith so that she could have a more central role in students’ math education. “I want to help the student who is struggling with math,” she said.

Xie is committed to getting to know her students. “I love to build relationships with my students,” she said. She is trying to be a better teacher, to be more consistent with her classroom management, and to build her students’ confidence, something she struggles with sometimes. “Sometimes I was so wrapped up in my own teaching world, and I forgot that building students’ confidence is very, very important for me,” she said.

Xie notes that ARHS is more diverse than she expected, saying she sees many more Asian-American students than she did when she worked in Holyoke. “[It] made me happy that I see some student faces [that are] very familiar, who look like me,” she said. 

Xie said that at the schools she previously worked at, she experienced much more racism targeted towards her than compared with at ARHS. “[Because] you guys already have these diverse people, I think the students are more accepting of who I am,” said Xie.

Xie’s family was very poor when she was growing up in Taishan, China; she recalls she started working to help support her family when she was around nine or ten years old. She also had to work instead of attending high school, due to the tuition fees for schooling in China, as her parents could not afford it. She said that her upbringing shaped her into a more resourceful person. “I need to constantly [be] thinking about how I can survive financially,” she said.

Xie notes that Amherst is a privileged town and said that it’s important for people to understand that not everyone comes from the same background, and to have compassion for one another regardless of people’s backgrounds. “Everyone has something to offer, no matter how you’re brought up,” she said.