When I consider why I choose to teach everyday, I immediately think of my high school calculus teacher. She taught me for three years, had the highest expectations, emphasized conceptual learning, and truly maximized my potential as a student. She believed in me more than I ever believed in myself. I always ask myself how I can be more like her. My relationships with students and my love for maximizing student potential make me excited to wake up and teach everyday.

My vision of the math classroom reflects how I view math: it is valuable, applicable, and important for life outside the class. All my actions within the classroom should likewise be valuable, applicable, and important to my students. In the classroom, I believe that students should be discovering rules, making observations, comparing and contrasting, looking for patterns. Students speak to their peers, make arguments, and defend their reasoning. Rather than a focus on rote memorization or lecture-based learning, the math classroom should look like a workshop, where many minds are thinking together and challenging each other in a busy and interesting environment.

As a teacher of mathematics, I aim to guide and serve, rather than show and tell. I aim to empower my students to do mathematics, where they learn and discover before we practice. I aim to show them the importance and beauty of mathematics in the world beyond the white board and worksheets.

In order to assess my students’ understanding, I employ a variety of methods to assess student understanding both informally and formally. Assessment should be a regular part of a mathematics lesson, where I am able to gather data on student understanding in order to best respond to their learning needs. While formal written tests may be used, I will also continue looking for and trying out innovative assessment approaches.

Beyond mathematics, my main goal as a teacher is to provide guidance and consistency in my students’ lives. High school is never easy, and I hope my class serves as a place that embraces growth while supporting their aspirations. My relationships with students are the reason I love teaching so much: I am able to serve as a mentor and role model for them. Additionally, I carefully use my relationships with students as my main form of motivation and classroom management. By building positive, important relationships, I am more capable of connecting their experiences to the classroom, improving their motivation and interest in the class. Furthermore, showing I care about my students leads to a more positive learning environment for everyone.

Overall, I am proud to be an educator and honored to serve my students. As a teacher, it is my duty to seek out learning opportunities and to continue to grow and evolve in the classroom. As I do so, I will always prioritize high-quality mathematics learning and an emphasis on growing together as a class.