About Me

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you gain something insightful from it. Now that you have read a blog post or two, let me tell you a little bit more about me.

My name is Rebecca and I started teaching high school math right after I graduated from college in the late '90s (I know, I don't look a day over 25! Thank you.). I started my career teaching in a large public high school. I did that for 7 years and then I decided to follow a dream of mine and move overseas. I was overseas for 7 years during which I taught at two international schools: one in Switzerland and one in Venezuela. (You can read more about my international teaching experience here.) I returned to the States in 2012, taught at an independent school for 10 years, moved to the other side of the country and got a job in a public school.

I prefer to teach Precalculus and Calculus, but I have also taught Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, IB Math Studies, IB Math SL, and IB Math HL.

As far as my style of teaching is concerned I have two main philosophies that drive my decisions: 

(1) I want my class to not be boring. I am always looking for ways to make class exciting or interesting. Sometimes it's as simple as me making corny or silly jokes (e.g. "d plus 3d equals 4d - not to be confused with forty!"). I hate lecturing for an hour so I always try to shorten my lectures and use the extra time for activities.

(2) It is important to me that my students feel comfortable in my classroom. I want them to feel comfortable in the physical space as well as feel comfortable with me and their classmates. This is why I keep my room clean and organized. (See photos of previous my classroom here.) I want students to have a place to put their belongings and have space to call their own while they're in my room. I avoid using sarcasm (when I can 😉) and I avoid speaking in a patronizing tone; the last thing I want to do is send the message that I will make students feel stupid for asking a question or saying they don't understand.

I am making it my mission to share my knowledge and experience with other math teachers. When I was first starting out in my career there were no email lists or Facebook groups. We had to figure stuff out on our own. But now it's easy for me to help younger and less experienced teachers. I hope to help you and make your life easier.

Did you get a chance to join my email list? If not, click here. 

Want to know more? Join my Facebook group for upper high school math teachers.