Dr. Michael Kumaresan seems to do it all at Scarsdale High School. He is a math, engineering, and digital logic design teacher, a tennis and former soccer coach, and a robotics and the senior class government advisor.  In the classroom, rather than relying on conventional textbooks, Kumaresan created his own textbooks for each class that he teaches. Often hundreds of pages long, the textbooks are meticulously constructed over months on end—his multivariable calculus book took him 9 months to complete. He is perhaps one of the first teachers to begin such an initiative while still teaching—a pioneer. 

The initiative to create his own textbooks began two years ago with Kumaresan’s visit to one of the most elite private high schools in the country, Phillips Exeter Academy. Kumaresan chatted with some of the teachers in their math department, and noted that most of them had their own textbooks. “So the book is my own take on what they do adapted to Scarsdale,” he said. 

Kumaresan tested his books last year in his Digital Logic Design class, where some of the students that had him for multiple classes and experienced both styles of teaching, one with traditional textbooks and one with Kumaresan’s own, noted that Kumaresan’s books worked better for them. “Part of it is that I like to present the material in a certain way that I feel is more logical and as a teacher I would like to bring out certain points…So this is my way of presenting to my students what I believe is the most effective way,” Kumaresan explained. Since the first test run, he has implemented these books in all of the classes he teaches. 

While it is early in the school year, Kumaresan’s personalized books seem to be working well for his new students. “I think I definitely prefer the way with the new textbooks much more because I think the hand-picked curriculum serves the students’ needs and allows him to teach material he really knows,” Noah Weintrob ’25 commented.  

However, regarding the creation of his teacher-specific textbooks, Kumaresan does not recommend the same approach for all classes. “I think every teacher should do whatever they feel is the right way to communicate with their students. So, this is the way I’ve found that is effective for what I try to do. But I certainly would not want other people to do it if that’s not what they want to do,” he commented. 

These books have certainly met Kumaresan’s objective of teaching class in his style, in a way that enhances his job as an educator. With the success that Kumaresan experienced, personalized textbooks may become viable for how math, or even other subjects, are taught at Scarsdale High School.