Next Steps
&
Contact
My experience as a Penn fellow teaching math and physics at the Northfield Mount Hermon School in the last two years has provided me with experiences, perspectives, and critical lenses that will benefit my teaching for years to come. I have (even more) tremendous respect for all of the educators out there in the world, making a difference in one student at a time. As I leave NMH and start a new chapter of my career at the Peddie School in New Jersey later this year (2023), there are quite a few things that I wish to remember and take away from my learning experiences, and in particular, from my inquiry project on fostering resilience.
Lingering Thoughts
One major lingering observation from my inquiry project seems to be this apparent tension between what the students believe, and what they are able to say about themselves. Though they have adopted the concept of resilience into their daily lives and their collaborative work with others, the students' tendencies to negatively talk about themselves remain. In both the high-achiever seniors and the novice math-learning 9th graders, they exhibit habits that resulted from years of social conditioning and internalized ideas about their own abilities and capabilities.
Good is never good enough -- why be good when someone else is being better? This is the message that these students have learned to accept at elite boarding schools such as NMH. My work with the students in learning and unlearning , thankfully, takes place in and outside of the classroom. In my experience, I have very much found my interactions with students outside of the classroom setting to be equally if not more valuable and formative. As a boarding school educator, there is a lot more that I can do to better understand, support, and educate my students.
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Another goal of mine is to better incorporate mathematical modeling, through groupworthy tasks, into my teaching. In my inquiry project, I have started to see the impacts that tasks of mathematical modeling could have on students' learning and thinking. I firmly believe in doing mathematics for social justice, and through mathematical modeling, I hope to better empower my students in the future, further foster their mathematical resilience, and help them put the mathematics that they learn on a daily basis into use.
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At the time of this writing (mid April, 2023), I have been selected as a finalist for the 2023 Knowles Teaching Fellowship, which is a five year program designed for beginning high school math and science teachers. This is an opportunity that I would not have known, if not for my math methods teacher, Josh Thurbee. In a few weeks, I hope to be selected as a fellow, and to continue my journey of learning and growing as an educator, especially in the absence of Penn GSE (which I already feel sad about).
Next Steps
Mathematics is beautiful. It is one of the most human things that we have the privilege of endeavoring in our life times. Mathematics is powerful, in that we can use it to help us understand and tackle countless social problems. Mathematics should be accessible, students deserve to have a pleasant and, ultimately, empowering learning experience. Mathematics is purposeful. The road to resilience is not easy, but it is a worthwhile journey.
At the end of our journey together, I would like to acknowledge all the people whom I have had the immense privilege of working with in the last two years. I never thought that I would become a teacher, let alone at an independent boarding school. None of this would be possible without my Penn director, Hugh Silbaugh, who passed away in the winter of 2021. Hugh brought me into this foreign world, and as you've read, this has been one hell of a journey and lesson in resilience.
Dave Pillsbury, my mentor and program director after Hugh's passing, has been the most helpful and supportive person that I could have ever dreamed of working with. Of course, Bea Garcia, our Dean of Faculty, has offered me with some much needed support (and hugs) in difficult times on campus.
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To everyone at Penn GSE, Charlotte, Sonia, Ed, Koko, Dr. Gayle, Caroline, and everyone else, a huge "Thank You" for pushing me to grow in so many different ways. Your support means the world to me, and you inspire me to be a better teacher everyday. To the entire ISTR cohort, especially the best friend I didn't know I needed, Spencer Royston, thank you all for your support in the worst of times, and the best of times. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Get in Touch!
I will be teaching at the Peddie School in NJ starting the fall of 2023!
Mailing Address to come...
717-856-3099
