Greetings to all. My name is Joe, and I taught middle school math in the Bronx for 31 years. The bulk of my career was spent at JHS 145, which is located in the Bronx. At JHS 145, I was nominated "Teacher of the Year" for District 9 for the 1993 school year. For the last 10 years of my career at JHS 145, I served as the staff developer for mathematics. As staff developer my duties included the training and supervision of all new teachers, designing a remedial study program for all students,...
Greetings to all. My name is Joe, and I taught middle school math in the Bronx for 31 years. The bulk of my career was spent at JHS 145, which is located in the Bronx. At JHS 145, I was nominated "Teacher of the Year" for District 9 for the 1993 school year. For the last 10 years of my career at JHS 145, I served as the staff developer for mathematics. As staff developer my duties included the training and supervision of all new teachers, designing a remedial study program for all students, the introduction and implementation of all citywide and district-wide initiatives, etc. I basically served as the head of the math department for the final portion of my career. I received my BA from Pace University and my MA from Herbert H. Lehman College.
Mathematics, of course, can be a very unusual subject, some of us love it, and it comes easy to us. When I am working with a student, young or old, I respect the fact that no two students learn the same way. This is key to quality learning. I have also found that it takes great patience to tutor an individual. For many of us however, math can be similar to a foreign language. I've always thrived with students who have a bit of difficulty with "seeing" math. I have always taken a relaxed approach with students who encounter difficulty with math. We attempt to break down each problem to it's component parts, so that it actually becomes fundamental math. I have had great success with students who were labelled "borderline", and I look forward to my next challenge.
