Sarah Nordin Email and Phone Number

For as long as I can remember, I have had a love for puzzles. I learned later that I am a visual and logical learner, which makes me adept in mathematics, and in turn gave me a stronger passion for it. It was not until my senior year in high school that I learned that I liked math. In college I pursued higher level math courses and although it became more difficult, the challenge only made it more enjoyable. My passion and my desire to share math, have guided my appreciation of the subject and has driven my desire to become a teacher.I have had the opportunity to work together with students at many stages of life, from tutoring students in elementary school to teaching undergraduate students. The knowledge I have gained into how students learn has helped me become a better teacher. With my experience, there are a few stigmas students have about learning math, which are math is impossible, uninteresting, or irrelevant. Therefore, my philosophy is threefold.Math is possible. Even I have admitted that math is not always easy, however it does not mean it is impossible. When math is presented in a favorable and encouraging way, student will see that is not the monster that it is often made out to be. By calculating examples that illustrate concepts and studying difficult cases that need special attention, students can tackle any problem.Math is interesting. For a student to succeed in a subject, that subject must engage him or her. Mathematics is too often taught as a cold, distant science with an endless list of formulas and seemingly no connection between topics. I like to bring excitement and at times a story line to my classes, using liveliness and passion to teach ideas.Math is relevant. One of the most difficult challenges to overcome is the students’ indifference toward the subject. Many students do not believe what he or she is learning will be of any use beyond the next test. To respond to that idea, I stress that mathematics does have a profound impact our daily lives. While everyone agrees math does have a practical purpose, students will often point to the more tedious calculations as proof of math’s irrelevance. And while it’s true that they may never need to solve a trigonometric equation again, the ability to think rationally, to clearly organize ideas, and to accurately apply concepts are traits that will always have a practical application.