Scientist-turned-teacher Howard Malitz touches on the chemistry that matters most – the chemistry of connections and relationships between people. Howard describes just how fulfilling life can be when leading young people on the path to adulthood and success. And, he shares his thoughts with an honesty and intensity that will really make you think. There are many reasons that people pursue this noble calling, and if you are grappling with a career choice, or know someone who is, this conversation may provide the guidance needed to make this life-changing decision.
A new direction – 5:10
Scanning groceries leads to a mindshift – 6:30
Pharamaceutical patent – 9:15
People who make a difference – 15:25
Teacher-leader – 19:55
Teaching has taught me... – 27:45
What matters most – 34:55
David Reynolds: What matters most in learning? The challenge, the thrill, the benefits, interacting with other people, or something else entirely? What is the connection between leading and learning? Does change drive learning, or does learning drive change? What's more important? Teaching or learning? Is everyone a leader, a learner, a teacher? Want answers? Listen in as we address these intriguing issues through commentary, and with guests who share their thinking and tell us their stories. Lead. Learn. Change.
Howard Malitz: I don't think working on the bench and in a lab is for me anymore. Being a teacher has been much more fulfilling. There's some kids that really challenge you, and I think back to ... Yeah. I was no picnic either, so maybe they're me. I would say my job as a teacher leader, understand it's not personal, and remember someone is hurting. Instead of getting angry, why don't you get curious? See what happens. Failure actually is an option. The getting up from the falling down is really the part where all the learning takes place.
David Reynolds: Dedicated teachers have a huge impact on those with whom they interact, and each of us can name a teacher who made a difference in our life. Today, we're talking with Howard Malitz, a science teacher at Ray Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New Jersey. Howard reflects on what led him to serve in his current role, mentions people who influenced him along the way, contrasts teaching with his work as a chemist, and offers candid insights about his chosen profession.
Good morning, Howard, and welcome to the podcast. Thanks for taking your valuable time to speak with me today.
Howard Malitz: Well, thank you David, for having me. I'm looking forward to this.
David Reynolds: When you and I met earlier this year during the podcasting fellowship, we were familiar with some of our classmates occupations and backgrounds. And as an educator myself, I've had the pleasure of working with some outstanding second career teachers, and when I realized that you were another member of this select group, I knew I wanted to talk with you about the path you've taken. Get things started for us by telling us how you ended up moving into the world of education. Whatever you see as the first step to move towards education, why did that thinking even happen? What made you decide to do that and how did that play out?
Howard Malitz: Excellent. All right. Well, when I was in college, I was on the path to become a chiropractor. I was taking courses to fulfill requirements that would allow me to apply for chiropractic college. One of the requirements of course, was chemistry. And as I was taking chemistry and some other courses, I decided I no longer wanted to go to chiropractic college and needed to finish up a degree somewhere. And so I finished up with a chemistry degree and in that process towards my, I would say senior year of finishing that, I decided I wanted to go into teaching. So rather than start an entire curriculum over, the school offered a secondary education certification, and this is at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, which is a known as one of the pioneer teaching colleges. And so this gave him the opportunity, with a couple more years of schooling, to get a secondary education certification for the state of Illinois.
So during my student teaching experience, which is the end of that, there was an emotional switch that wasn't taking place. I didn't feel really mature enough to be in a position of a teacher. I felt just too close to the age of the students, and decided that I would fall back on my science background, the chemistry degree. And it's interesting. We say fall back on something like that. It's quite a foundation. So I was very fortunate, and I started working at a company in Decatur, Illinois, doing quality control testing. And I will fast forward to now 2006, 2008 timeframe where I'm starting to have some interesting shifts mentally for what I want to do, if I want to continue as a scientist. And then the recession came along, and I got laid off. And in that timeframe, I decided to ... I actually read a book called 48 Days to the Work You Love.
I can't think of the author off hand, but he ... In that book, it framed up something that I needed as far as a new direction. And I decided to now work with my second secondary education certification to get a teaching job, a teaching position. And now at this point, I'm in New Jersey, so I now have to go through some re-certification for New Jersey guidelines and requirements.
And in 2009, the fall of 2009, I started at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School under the mentorship of a really great man, William Landow or Bill Landow. He gave me that opportunity, and I'm very grateful for that. He mentored me probably for the first couple of years I was there, and then it was time for him to move on. So I kind of became, by default, a mentor in the science department at our school, and that's been a great experience.
David Reynolds: So what was it really, that was the catalyst for making that shift aside from some of the economic issues that happened in the 2007, 2009 era?
Howard Malitz: So when I got laid off and I was in an unemployed situation, I decided to actually take a job at the local supermarket called ShopRite out here in New Jersey, and what I realized in that position, and I'm just a guy scanning groceries, saying, "Good morning, do you do coupons?" Just that regular interaction that you have with a cashier, that culture of interacting with people on a regular basis every day, and I would say even being in a service position, because eventually I moved into the customer service counter and helped out people there.
The shift took place actually there where I said, "You know what? I don't think working on the bench and in a lab is for me anymore." And so that was probably the actual, I would say, hands-on kicker that said, "You need to do something else. You need to use your knowledge and talents not to discover new drugs or new processes for testing them, but to teach, to work with other people." And so that was probably the biggest catalyst.
David Reynolds: So a different type of interaction opportunity it sounds like, with more people than you might've found in the scientist or bench setting that you mentioned. I noticed on your CV that you were a scientist as a chemist, or a quality control analyst, or the other roles that you held. Right near the end of that time period, that's when you and some colleagues were involved in a few patent applications, and they were for oral spray applications and one was to combat migraines, so I am curious about the idea behind the patent. How did that actually emerge? Maybe it was the pharmaceutical viability and stability of the chemical composition. I'm not sure. Or maybe it was the delivery system itself, or something else, or both. So I'm curious about how that idea came about, and if that is a commonplace thing and ...
Howard Malitz: Okay, sure. So just to give it a little bit of, I'll say Layman's science on that, most medication that we're familiar with is an oral dose. So it's a pill and it goes in, and it goes into your stomach, into your system. With a aerosolized type of delivery, it's called systemic, so it goes straight to the bloodstream. That's why inhalers, they're used for an urgent or acute situation where you do a couple actuations or sprays, and it works right away, rather than taking a pill and waiting 30 minutes. So were trying to take the oral dose, and turn it into a aerosolized version so that someone not for necessarily urgent care, but it wouldn't have to wait a half hour, sit in a dark room and all that. It would take less time therapeutically for them to feel the effects, which hadn't been done yet, so our director had said, "Would you guys want to apply for a patent?" And we said, "Yeah, that'd be a great idea."
It was unfamiliar to me. I'd never had a patent or anybody even asked me. So now in this role with this manufacturing or new formulation, I had the opportunity to be on a patent. And so took advantage of the opportunity, very grateful for it, and I would say to answer the other question, it is typical in the pharmaceutical industry for someone to get their name on a patent. And if they're not the sole owner, then the company will be the owner. And so, that's the basic process.
David Reynolds: It did sound like your interest was piqued with that when that offer was extended, and the opportunity to do that, because it was something you hadn't done before. It was novel, possibly challenging, and would certainly help people. So I'm wondering about how fulfilling your work has been, your work as a scientist, outside the classroom and scientist as teacher. Which one of those has been the most fulfilling and why?
Howard Malitz: I would say that being a teacher has been much more fulfilling. The interaction with the group of students in the ages from 14 to 18, and the opportunity to really teach them more than just chemistry, I will say about character, about manners, about life's ups, ups and downs. Because as a teacher, you by default ... I guess not necessarily by default, but depending on how willing I was to make connections with the students, they would see that, "Oh, I'm a person and a teacher." And so breaking down that wall of Mr. Malitz to student and seeing that they could just come in and say a life question and to guide them in a direction, because they're picking out colleges, and they're picking out courses to share. They're limited to their resources of their parents. Adults really, or maybe, aunts, uncles, things like that.
But here's a teacher that I've actually talked about my transition from being a scientist to being a teacher, so they know that my previous experience is with science. So they asked me questions, and to be in a position to guide them as much more fulfilling than a patent though. As you asked me that question, while I think, "Okay, this is certainly helping people." It's not in 3D. It's in the background helping people, but when I'm face-to-face with Josh, I'm just throw out a name, or Max and say saying, "Hey max, you don't seem yourself today. Do you need any help with anything?" And they just say, "Yeah, I have a test coming up, and I was wondering if we could talk about some other things going on, and just with the scheduling, because the homework due, and it's just a lot."
So I just sit with them and help them plan their time. Now that's not my actual job if you look at my job description, but they noticed that I'm organized. They said, "How do you get organized? Because I everything's all over the place. Can you help me get organized?" So that type of interaction is much more fulfilling for me.
David Reynolds: So I'm going to step out on a limb here, and guess that you are going to answer affirmatively if I ask you about a teacher or teachers that have possibly played a role in your life, or your career path, or what you're doing right now. So, are there teachers that you can point back to and say, "That person made a difference for me,"?
Howard Malitz: Yes. I would say Patrick Flynn, who was my English teacher. I believe when I was in high school, I want to say 11th grade perhaps, and there's another one. Can't remember his first name, but Mr. Jones. He was my geometry teacher, and Mr. Jones actually forgave my sarcasm a lot. I'll say my class clownism as well, and I was very grateful for that, now being in the position I'm in, that there's some kids that really challenge you. And I think back to, "Yeah, I was no picnic either. So maybe they're me, and maybe I should give them a break like these guys gave me a break."
David Reynolds: So is that the central influence that they had? Was they connect with you as an individual? It sounds like you really resonated with them because they rolled with your personality, and did not interact with you as just one of many similar students sitting in a row. Have I captured that correctly?
Howard Malitz: Yeah. I wasn't treated like a number. I was treated like a person, and again, they let down probably their wall of Mr. Jones and young Howard, or Mr. Flynn and young Howard. So knowing that teachers are people first, teachers second or third, depending on what else they do. I've even had my own interactions with students outside of the classroom, outside of school, where they've had an opportunity to get to know me on a personal level with certain hobbies. And they're just grateful for the opportunity. One of them is I ride a motorcycle. So anytime I ride my motorcycle to school, they come out, they want to check it out. And it's a connection. "Oh, I thought you were just a guy who stood up in front of us. You're kind of cool. You have a motorcycle."
David Reynolds: Right. So in addition to the teachers you just mentioned, Mr. Flynn and Mr. Jones, who else? Doesn't have to be a teacher. Who else has influenced you the most?
Howard Malitz: Sorry. Father. He's gone. He's he passed away. But just as you asked me that, and he gave me so much on how to be of service to others, how to welcome them into your home, how to make them feel welcome when they're uncomfortable, how to give them a break when they didn't think they deserved it, or how to kick them in the tuchus when they need it. And I would say my father did all those things for me, and probably was my biggest influence in becoming a teacher.
David Reynolds: It sounds like ... and thank you for sharing that. That's very personal, but that's the most meaningful stuff, And so I appreciate that memory and that clarity about why it was so meaningful. What do you see then, as the recurring themes or maybe characteristics, among the most influential people in your life? If you look at your dad, and you look at Mr. Jones, Mr.. Flynn, other teachers, other people, family members and others that you might not have mentioned, are there some recurring themes that you think make meaningful relationships meaningful?
Howard Malitz: Yeah. I would say service to others with no strings attached. That would be the general theme, and even people that I never met. I would say I have some teachers that, from the books I've listened to, from the conferences I've attended, that these people have that giving spirit with no sense of I'm owed something. I'm not even owed a standing ovation. I'm not owed a review on my book. They're just doing this to give, and that's kind of where I fell into ... Earlier, you talk about podcast fellowship. I realized that we're not going to be the top Joe Rogan or Tim Ferris. We're just going to be people giving to other people. And that makes it all worthwhile.
David Reynolds: If you hear the phrase teacher leader, what does that mean to you?
Howard Malitz: So leader means that you have people following you. So how do I ... When someone says, "Do you have discipline problems in your class?" And I said, "Well, let's look at the word discipline for a moment. Coming from the word disciple, which is followers, and no, I don't have problems having students follow my direction in class, if that's what you mean." And I think it's because as I teach, I give them a reason to follow me. One of my favorite expressions from leadership, and I don't know who said it, who started it, but I attribute it to Dave Ramsey. And he says, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care," and that I have tried to keep with me through my teaching career every day because when I look at some of these students, I have some very strong students who are very strong academically, and they are probably smarter than me.
The only difference is they just don't have experience. They probably have more stamina, more energy to get the job done, because as I've gotten older, it's like, I'm not looking to get a master's degree. They are. They are on that path, and I can see some of them, they're going to get their master's, they're going to get their PhD. And they're going to be great people doing great things, but in the meantime, they don't have the experience. So they need someone to help them get the experience. So to come back to the question, "What does a teacher leader?" I think it is someone who not only gives the students a reason to know that the teacher cares, but is someone who, in the meantime, doesn't waste students' time. The content is rigorous. Content is relevant.
So for instance, if we're talking about the quantum theory, we don't really see things at this small level. And we know the electrons moving, and how do we know? Okay. Well, let's make it even bigger. How do we know what's going to happen tomorrow? Well, we don't. We have to experience tomorrow. So it's the same thing with the quantum theory. They kept testing it with all their questions. Oh, and it passed that test, and it passed this test. So the fear can be replaced by experience, and to be in a position to help students with those emotions of the unknown, of fear and frustration, and anger sometimes.
They get angry and they'll take it out on me, and I would say my job as a teacher leader, understand it's not personal. And remember someone is hurting. One of the great questions is, "instead of getting angry, why don't you get curious? See what happens?" Yeah. So when a student is off their normal kilter, because students have just a routine, and they have a normal disposition, and all of a sudden, Oh. they are not the same kid I had yesterday. Hang on a second. What's going on with them? I think it's my job to ask. Not in an interfering or interrupting way, but in a caring way.
David Reynolds: You mentioned quantum theory is a great segue. It's like you ask me for these questions in advance, and I sent them to you, but we didn't do that this time.
Howard Malitz: No, I can assure you.
David Reynolds: But the next question I had was how do you respond to either spoken or unspoken? But it's proverbial question that students have about the value of the content that you teach. In other words, how do you impart some meaningful answers to the, "why do we need to know about fill in the blank," whether that's elements, or molecules, or matter, or motion, or energy, those foundational concepts of chemistry and physics? How do you respond to those types of inquiries from your kids?
Howard Malitz: Yeah, that is one of the tougher aspects of, I would say the position, because I would say they don't need to know every single thing I'm teaching to them. However, there's a foundation. So there are things that I tell them that are happening around them, that right now, you don't notice, and that you're not really tasked with paying attention to. However, if we start to talk about them a little bit, and you start to notice them, they may answer some of the question as to why something happens. So the quantum theory ... I tell them, "Look, people spend their whole careers in quantum theory. So we're going to spend about three days on it so we can talk about behavior the electron." Now, okay. What about the behavior of the electron? Why do we care about that? Well, the electrons are everywhere. They're interacting, and they allow all the reactions to happen.
And when I point out to them certain reactions that that happen, I say, "Well, without electrons, touching your phone won't happen because there's a ... It's called haptics where your finger touches a screen, and there's electrons being transferred, and then the screen knows what to do." So I can take something from the unknown, into the known. And so depending on the topic, I'll say, "Well, this is why you need to know it for this reason." And the other pieces, I tell them, "Look, part of your life is to build foundations for looking at patterns, looking at trends, why things are happening, and the sciences help you to do that in different ways." So that's what I try to express to them.
David Reynolds: Think about what you needed to know and be able to do to be successful as a teacher. What does that balance look like? Have you learned more about being a teacher in the 10 years of being a teacher, or in the 20 years of formal education, plus the years of serving as a scientist outside of the classroom?
Howard Malitz: Definitely the scale would tip towards the teaching experience giving me more and more ability to be a better teacher, because the material that I'm teaching is, I'll say general chemistry, or general physics. And it's very ... We're just capturing few aspects in many different realms of both sciences. Because when actually students say, "What's the difference between physics and chemistry?" I say, "Well, there's a lot of overlap. So we could teach it and call it physics, but I can show you how it's also chemistry." So there's a lot of overlap from that standpoint. I would say the part that becomes helpful for me is when I can actually back up the material I'm teaching. It really kind of goes back to the last little segment we were talking about. My teaching material, how I have used it in a professional setting.
So when they talk about ... So one of the things that's close to them that I've tested is asthma medication. Okay? So as asthma medication, one of the common active ingredients is called albuterol, and it's put into a little canister, and in there you have to put it with propellant, because it's actually a solid, and you have to aerosolize a solid. So it has to go through a hole that's small enough to get through, but not to small or it'll get clogged, and large enough so that the droplets don't get too large, because otherwise they won't absorb properly. So there's all sorts of little pieces of sciences. So I could probably teach the functioning and operation of a albuterol inhaler, and do a whole course on it, and infuse every little piece of chemistry we talk about. So it's because of that experience I have, that I can crisscross into both sides and it's really a nice feeling.
I mean, when I've done back to school night, or we have an open house, so now I'm presenting in front of parents and they ask me to do a topic, one of my favorite topics, because actually this open house is usually in the fall. I'll say September, October timeframe. I like to talk about pressure, and gas pressure, and the volume and expansion of temperature, pressure, and volume, and all that. And I relate it to them, where has anybody noticed that their tire pressure sensor came on lately? And half of them raised their hand. I said, "Well, that's because the temperature's changing. The tire air is adjusting to the new fall air temperature and pressure. So even with parents, I can do that.
And these parents have an education. There's no need for them to learn anything new about chemistry right now, but many of them come up to me and say, "That was kind of neat experience to go through a little microcosm of teach of a classroom experience, even though I haven't been in the classroom in 25 years." So when events like that happen, where a parent comes up to you, it's even more special that you taught someone older something. The parents, they don't have to engage. And when they do, it makes it kind of special. So ...
David Reynolds: As a teacher, what is the most profound thing you have learned thus far?
Howard Malitz: It's going to surprise you. It's not the typical thing. So from time to time, when I say something that's a little too sarcastic, or I say something, I embarrassed a student in front of others, I find the need to apologize or make an amends to them because that's not fair to them. They're children. I should manage that. So typically I'll find the student as soon as I can, either later that day or the next day, and go to them and say, "My behavior was inappropriate. I was wrong. I should not have talked to you that way." And they usually come back with ... Sorry. "It's okay. You're the teacher." And I'm like, "No, it's not okay because I'm the teacher." And the biggest thing I learned from that, is that either enough people don't come to them and say they were wrong to know that we can be wrong.
They just kind of take it. I'm like, "No. They shouldn't have to just take it because I'm the adult, and you're the child." Really, that's something that I keep in the forefront because we can talk about how many students we graduate, and we can talk about all these metrics, and it's like, "Well, why don't we talk about all the ones that we've hurt and we've put down?" Nobody wants to talk about that. And that exists.
I mean, I'm human. So are you, so is everybody in my building, and we're all going to do some foolish things and do some hurtful things. And I feel that ]maybe it goes back to your teacher leader question, that I have to lead with my weakness sometimes. So that's probably the biggest learning that I've had as a teacher, is that the kids think that we don't owe them an apology sometimes. And it's like that's not true.
David Reynolds: Thanks for sharing that. That was not what I expected. I didn't have an expected response, but that is a quite unique reply to that prompt. It's like the touching stories about your father, when something is really meaningful, it's almost always because of a relationship and a desire to interact in the best way possible with the other person, and give them your best. That's a wonderful response. You seem to really live what you've written on your CV regarding your career highlights, and I know that you broke away from the science mode for a moment at your high school, and have pondered a project about personal finance for your students. So, what led you to this endeavor?
Howard Malitz: So, my background is similar to the students that I work with. So, I grew up in North Shore Chicago area in a Jewish neighborhood. I was raised Jewish family, and we always had money. And when I started to make my own money, I mismanaged it, and had some financial difficulty all throughout my career. Even though I made decent money, I just didn't know how to spend it. And I got that all straightened out actually, before I started teaching, which I think it actually allowed me to teach, because getting the finances in order allowed me to, I'll say, make a little less money. And even if it's less money, but I manage it well, I'm going to be fine. And that turned out to be the case. I mentioned Dave Ramsey. I followed his program, and he always talked about a high school curriculum.
And so when I became a high school teacher, I decided to investigate the curriculum, and I posted it to our assistant principal, who was also a pretty smart finance guy. And I said, "Well, would you be willing to let me teach the class?" And he said, "I'd love to have you teach class. The problem is I need to have you because the schedule the way it pans out, we're just limited with faculty, so I can't do it just yet." So a few years later, I was allowed to be freed up to teach the course. And the first year I taught the course, I think I had 12 students, which is a pretty small class size. And it turned out very well. It got word to the parents, and many parents were like, "Oh, this should be a required course."
And so now, a third year I taught it. I had 23 students in there, and that's how many desks I had, so we were to capacity. When it comes to electives, they can take AP classes. There's other things, genetic engineering. You could take a sociology, psychology. You could take all these different things, and personal finance is now one of the things offered on a regular basis, and I get emails from parents or personal interaction. They say, "Oh, me and my son were discussing the compound interest at the table on Shabbat, which is the holiday on Friday night and Saturday." And he said, "Oh, this is a great experience." And it's not that the parents just couldn't do it, it's just that, well, here's a school. We can get it done here, and the parents can supplement what we do, and so it turns out that many students, especially when we introduced some of the things about savings, if you start saving early, they realize that, "Oh, I'm saving my money now."
And they're frivolous spending changes. I would say it's only about 10% of the kids, or maybe 15%, but that's fine. I'll take five kids who changed their mind, and start saving now, or start working now. And me and you are adults now, and me and you, David and I, we're adults and had we had some of this stuff when we were younger, I don't know that I would have had some of the struggles I've had. And here I am now, and I have the opportunity to help kids do it different than I did it.
David Reynolds: Is there a next step or a next idea planned for you as an educator?
Howard Malitz: I would say that because this is new to me ... So I'm only been doing this 10 years. I feel like I'm just starting. I've seen a couple cycles of kids go from freshmen to senior, and I know that they have brothers and sisters coming up, and I've gotten to know their parents and other family members, and I really enjoy being part of the Kushner family. Right now, I really can't imagine myself anywhere else, and that's saying a lot for a guy who went around to a lot of different jobs prior to this. So, I like the position that I'm in for my personality and my experience right now. I need to be in a position to teach, and to serve. So ...
David Reynolds: Sometimes, you just end up in a place that is exactly where you're supposed to be. And that's always a great thing for you and the people that you get to serve. Is there anything else that you would like to share, or that I should have asked?
Howard Malitz: What I have discovered that matters the most, is helping people, students, parents, other faculty take something that's either unknown or they're uncertain about and they have questions and transform them to a place where they do know what's happening. They do have confidence. They do have the ability to say, "Oh, I can work with this." So just that whole transition really for me, because it really probably stems from my own idea that when I have an experience, it trumps everything.
So for instance, I could walk around with a book on how to fly a helicopter, and I can understand all the physics, and I can explain it to you, and I can do all the calculus for you, and then I have to sit in a helicopter. Oh, well now I don't know what to do because I have to flip through a book. Well, that's not how you fly a helicopter. You have to sit in it, and have an engine stall, or have a problem, and solve it. And I think even the best part of some of the experiments that I conduct with the kids, is to teach them that failure actually is an option. And the getting up from the falling down is really the part where all the learning takes place. This is really good for me to just reflect on, "Why am I doing this?"
David Reynolds: Well, thank you, Howard. It's been a pleasure talking with you today.
Howard Malitz: Thank you, David. I've enjoyed this myself.
David Reynolds: Thanks for listening today. The next episode will feature an Amazon top seller, author, music teacher, dad, YouTuber, and blogger. Stay tuned. Podcast, cover art is from Unsplash by a photographer Simon Matzinger with the view of Altmunster am Traunsee, Austria, and the soundtrack is Sweet Adrenaline, by Delicate Beats. You can reach podcast host David Reynolds at LeadLearnChange@icloud.com. Follow us on Instagram at lead dot learn dot change, and check out LinkedIn for podcast related posts. Find the lead, learn, change podcast on your search engine, iTunes, Google podcasts, Spotify, my tuner, or other listening app. Leave a rating, write a review, subscribe, and share with others. In the meantime, go lead, go learn, go make a change. Go.