Bio Continued

At first glance, my educational background may not immediately demonstrate a straightforward path toward becoming a math teacher.  I first became interested in teaching mathematics after I completed my MA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago. I was teaching Philosophy courses at Harold Washington College in Chicago and since I had written my thesis on the qualities of truth-predicates in ethical statements, I was peripherally curious about the nature of truth-predicates in mathematics as well. But my interest in mathematics became less theoretical and more pragmatic while I was teaching a course on Symbolic Logic. I became fascinated with utilizing logic and argument to teach mathematics to secondary school students. In contrast, I remembered my high school mathematics education as a series of memorization exercises. I was told to memorize how you integrated by parts or computed x-intercepts using the quadratic equation, but hardly was I told why I performed these exercises in the ways I did. From a math perspective, I subsequently felt alienated from the content in my math classes and simply attempted to complete the assignment to the satisfaction of my teachers. From a general academic perspective, since I failed to learn the reasoning behind my computations, I concluded that I simply did not have a “math brain”.

After years of studying History and Philosophy at Bucknell University and then at The University of Chicago, I remarked that I was “ready” to study mathematics because for the first time I appreciated the powerful, creative, critical reasoning skills employed while studying the subject. After having taken every math course available at the City College of San Francisco and San Mateo College, I enrolled at San Francisco State University’s Teaching Credential program and quickly defined my emerging philosophies with their academic names. I identified with a constructivist approach generally and practiced the Complex Instruction Model of teaching. I learned to teach from curricula which employed student-centered differentiation strategies, group work and open-ended, Socratic questioning as central to their program design. This training culminated in an opportunity to collaborate on the next version of the eTextbook program for the College Preparatory Mathematics textbook series.

I was offered a position teaching middle school and upper school mathematics at the French-American International School of San Francisco, and I took the opportunity to further develop my teaching philosophies and pedagogical practices across the 7th through 12th grades including IB mathematics and SAT Prep. At FAIS, I was given the chance to integrate my work in philosophy and mathematics into a teaching program based on critical, creative thinking and collaboration.

After 3 years at FAIS, my wife and I decided that we wanted to try a new adventure by teaching abroad and we were given that opportunity at the Rabat American School of Morocco. At RAS I had the opportunity to work with the school in introducing criteria based grade reporting and in developing a brand new middle school math curriculum. I was also offered several leadership positions including being the Data Implementation Specialist for our school wide MAP testing program, IB Diploma Theory of Knowledge coordinator, MSA Accreditation committee member for Mathematics, Week Without Walls Trip leader and I helped to evolve our school’s Math Learning Center which offered both support and enrichment opportunities such as multiple international math contests, SAT prep, Modular Electronics and partnerships with a local girls’ school.

With our young daughter getting older and my wife pregnant with our second daughter, we decided to prioritize being near family and so we returned to the U.S.  I was offered and accepted a position at The Haverford School where I have had the opportunity to develop my strategies for how to understand my students in an all boys learning environment as well as contribute to a number of fascinating projects the school is undertaking including the integration of Project Based Learning through my enrollment in the University of Pennsylvania’s PBL Certificate Program, my participation on the Upper School Principal Hiring Committee, leading the pilot program of a new curriculum for our Algebra I course and as a Teacher Mentor to new faculty members to the Haverford community.

At this stage in my career, I feel as though I have learned from a range of teaching experiences and now would like to settle into a teaching community for the long term and to make a lasting contribution toward the school’s in general, and math department’s in particular, objectives and vision of teaching and learning. I am particularly fascinated by curriculum design and assessment and readily see myself exploring professional development opportunities that give me the tools to assist with vertical and interdisciplinary curricular alignment and school wide assessment and data analysis. Finally, I have been greatly influenced by my wife’s work as the IB Creativity, Action, Service Director during our time at RAS and it would be my goal to continue working with students on service projects and in exploring the philosophies of service in any future teaching position I occupy.