1|Traditional Portfolio
On this page you’ll get a formal synopsis of me – educational history, transcripts, and so forth. But for a lot more detailed & rich information, check out the tabs above. I think you’ll like what you see!
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY (a work always in progress)
Enthusiasm about math is infectious. Students learn from both discovery and direct learning. I try to constantly show my students that I care about their learning. I always try to teach to just a little higher level than my students think they can accomplish, but give them the tools and infinite encouragement to reach that level. I know, not just believe, that having clear and consistent expectations for students works.
DOCUMENTATION
MIT (undergrad) Transcript [PDF]
UCLA (grad) Transcript [PDF]
Massachusetts Teaching Certification [forthcoming]
Letters of Recommendation to get my job at Packer: D. Kaiser [PDF], N. Wise [PDF], S. Traweek [PDF]
Recommendation from former Packer department head and CSTI mentor: A. Williams [PDF]
EXAMPLES OF STUDENT WORK
I want to respect the privacy of my students, so I don’t feel comfortable scanning in documents, but here are some projects they have done/worked on.
1. My Multivariable Calculus class does a project in the 4th quarter — on a topic of their choice. In 2009, one of my students worked on creating a harmonograph which draws damped Lissajous Curves. He then explained the theory behind the harmonograph, and wy the parametric equations being drawn took the form that they did. A video of the Harmonograph is below.
2. For our Algebra II classes in 2007/8, the other Algebra II teacher and I created a “video project” which was used to promote student communication in mathematics. Each student signed up for a topic and created a video “teaching” the topic (with an example) to the rest of the students in Algebra II. They were put up on a blog called Logarithms, Rational Functions, and Trigonometry! Oh My! Feel free to click on the name to visit it, or to visit the post mortem (analysis) on my blog here.
EXAMPLES OF MY WORK
I teach most of my classes using SmartBoard, sometimes alongside worksheets I create.
1.You can read my paean to Smartboard here. But you probably just want to see samples.
2. In 2008/9, when studying quadratic regressions, my Algebra II class collected some data from pendulums of various lengths and analyzed them. The original idea for the “lab” is here, and a blow-by-blow for the lab, our thought processes, and our conclusion, is here.
3. In 2008/9, in Algebra II, I made a series of packets to teach linear and quadratic inequalities. The topic list is here. The packets are:
Packet I: Linear and Quadratic Inequalities on the Number Line (PDF)
……….Additional Homework on Quadratic Inequalities (PDF)
Packet II: Linear and Quadratic Inequalities on the Coordinate Plane (PDF)
Packet III: Systems of Inequalities (Linear and Linear-Quadratic) (PDF)
……….Additional Homework on Systems of Inequalities (PDF)
……….Pop Quiz on Inequalities and Quadratics (PDF)
Teaching Portfolio 