High School Algebra II/Trig/Calculus Teacher with Master's Degree

Marty G.

I received my master's degree in mathematics in December of 2024, then immediately was hired as a high school math teacher mid-year. I am initially teaching algebra I and algebra II/trig, but I will move to a combination of algebra II/trig and calculus for the next school year.

During my time doing my bachelor's degree at the University of Hartford, I tutored for 3 years and taught Peer Support Workshops for 2 years. Subjects included geometry, calculus I/II/III, differential equations, mechanics, pre-calculus, algebra, and more. During my time doing my master's degree at the University of North Texas, I taught pre-calculus, calculus I, and calculus II, as well as tutoring in the math lab. I also did SAT/ACT prep for high schoolers during the summer of 2024.

I tend to learn towards a more Socratic approach, where my students and I figure out the topic/problems together with mere assistance from me. I try very hard to assist my students in developing a sense of self-reliance in math: they need to be able to carefully think about a problem on their own before asking for help. The Socratic approach of collaboratively figuring out the problem WITH the student strongly reinforces this idea. Additionally, I am proficient at coming up with different specific explanations of a topic/problem in order to diagnose a specific confusion a student may have. Different people get confused about different things, and it's imperative to be able to pinpoint these confusions precisely. Lastly, I try to reinforce the notion of being precise in our mathematics: we need to be able to communicate our findings, and a big part of this is using very specific and carefully-chosen language. Being able to communicate about mathematics precisely also reinforces the ability to think more precisely in the first place!