What is your teaching style?
I consider the students my customers, and I aim to provide the best service. It is important for me to make the class an inviting, fun, non-threatening experience. I am acutely aware of the quiet reclusive ones, and seek to draw them out without frightening them. I also like challenging students to open their minds and think outside the box. Seeing a student’s face light up with understanding is always a rewarding experience. I’m serious about getting a point across but I also have a sense of humor. Sometimes a little silliness can make a lesson a lot more memorable. So don’t be surprised if pirates or clowns enter into the equation!
With my varied work experience, I can assist students in relating their education to the real world. I am able to explain complicated mathematical concepts in an easily understandable manner using concrete examples. I also seek creative ways to turn ordinary things into extraordinary adventures through surprising demonstrations: trash truck monster air fluid mechanics, angular momentum in bicycle tires, inelastic collision of bowling ball and golf ball, demo flip with twist on a tennis racket (the intermediate axis theorem), pi, proof of infinite primes, what is square root of a negative one, what is one divided by zero, etc.
I have an extensive collection of math and science books and resources to which I can refer in order to further elucidate a concept. For students in Christian schools, I will gladly incorporate information on how Christianity encouraged math and science, explaining how the founders of these fields were devout Christians. I am confident that these students will gain a whole new appreciation for math when they learn how mathematical truths and logic reflect the mind of God.
What is your educational philosophy?
The primary purpose of education through the ages (at least in times past) has been to nurture a vigorous mind and an active intellectual curiosity conducive to lifelong learning. As a Christian, I seek to comprehend all subjects in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A Biblically-based education enables me to better understand the Word of God and equips me to reasonably defend my faith. God created the mind and He has willed us to use it for His glory. Thus, no matter what the subject, studying an area of inquiry can be equated to pursuing God’s mind on the matter. C.S. Lewis once said, “Christianity is an education in itself.” What this means is that by growing in Christ we are constantly seeking to know more about Him and to learn about what He has spoken, with a goal of discovering God’s thoughts and figuring out how to articulate His truths to our culture. Contrary to what many people would lead you to believe, this process can clearly be supported by mathematics and the sciences.
What educator most inspired you?
John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018) was a teacher in New York City’s public schools for over 30 years. Gatto was a revolutionary educator, the kind of life-changing teacher who transforms the lives of his students and empowers them to realize their full potential. He was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. He used his platform to argue that conventional schooling is driving out the natural curiosity and problem-solving skills we’re born with, replacing it with constant supervision, rule-following, and artificial time constraints that lead to disillusionment and indifference.
His book Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992) introduced the now-famous expression of the title into the common vernacular. Gatto advocated for self-directed, open source learning, and urged parents to take control of the education of their children, which motivated many parents to consider homeschooling or alternative schooling. His follow-up book, The Underground History of American Education (2000), was the result of ten years of research into public education, uncovering its roots in 19th century industrialism and the highly authoritarian, militaristic state of Prussia. Weapons of Mass Instruction (2008) focused on mechanisms of traditional education that cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a byproduct of rote memorization drills. But that doesn’t mean he believed schools could not be improved. In A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling (2001), Gatto addressed what steps are required in order to transcend the current flawed system. He emphasized the need to teach students critical thinking skills as a good starting place.
Sir Ken Robinson took up where John Taylor Gatto left off. His 2006 TED talk on “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” was the most viewed in TED’s history. Sir Ken argued for an end to our outmoded industrial educational system and proposed a highly personalized, organic approach that draws on today’s unprecedented technological resources to engage all students, develop their love of learning, and enable them to face the real challenges of the 21st century. In 2015 he wrote Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education, which lays out an actionable strategy to push for change at the very heart of the system, rather than just throwing money at it or running away from it.