Teacher Philosophy

Teaching math is an extraordianry position that I find myself in. People are often surprised to find that I teach math and that I teach seventh graders. The reaction I get is always the same it always surprises me. Why do we have a shortage in math teachers? I think it's the best subject. It requires so much creativity and conceptional, deep thinking. And the intrinsic reward of success in this subject is unlike in any other subject. I've seen so many students extatic when they get the correct answer. They beat themselves up when they do not get the correct answer.

I want to help students succeed. As someone who has always had success in this subject I want others to experience this same reward. The reality is that for many math is a cold, unwelcoming, uncreative. But I think it's the result of constantly being wrong and not knowing why you are wrong, where you went wrong. Kids struggle and as expects in the field we need to help them untangle themselves in the mess they may be in i.e. learning gaps and absences.

It begins with us understanding that we have a diverse group of students in front of us. Some are sequential learners who need to see the steps in order to be able to understand the concept and some are global learners who struggle with the detailed intermediate steps and want to jump straight to the big picture. Because my learners are diverse, I try to cater to all learner groups by implementing UDL in my classroom; multiply means of representation, engagment, and expresssion. We do lots of different tasks in class, and I use different lesson models, techniques and tools.

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