I'm a young mathematics educator with interests in teaching, especially teaching math to people who say, "I've always hated math!", kayaking (mostly whitewater, but no class V's for me yet, I still need to learn how to roll!), T.V. (Hell's Kitchen, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Fringe, Burn Notice, and Psych are among my current fav's), adventure recreation stuff (I'm one of those people who LOVES ropes courses & ziplines *smile*), and music (unfortunately, the only thing I can play is the CD player but... I love listening to all types of music [except twangy country & blue grass] -- fav artists include Terri Allard, Dr. Hook, Etta James, Vonda Shepard, Kathy Mattea, Amy Grant, Aretha Franklin, and FANTASIA (oh yeah, I like American Idol too!), to name but a few. I love lions, partly because I'm a Leo but mostly because I think they're cool. Coffee, chocolate, Diet Coke, and Japanese food (teppan yaki) are my favorites. I love to read, be outdoors (camping, hiking, kayaking, doing ropes courses, whatever), and play with my dog, a.k.a. "son",(totally spoiled-rotten, black miniature schnauzer named Escher Steele (but we call him "Steeler" oh, yeah, and I'm a HUGE Steeler's fan!! go Big Ben!! woo hoo!!). Here's a picture of the boy:  I am currently an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Virginia State University. I joined the faculty here in August, 2003. Before that, I was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at West Texas A&M University. I was at WTAMU since January of '98. Prior to 1998, I worked for Lockheed Martin as a Technical Trainer for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I've been teaching (either mathematics or computer-related courses) since about 1988. I've taught in public and private schools, middle- and high-schools, two- and four-year colleges, and technical / business colleges in places like Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, and, Texas. I have also worked in many other fields: waitress, greenhouse worker, software developer, computer technician, camp counselor (and unit leader and assistant camp director), Sunday school director, choir director (if you knew me, you'd know how funny this is since I can't sing to save my life! ... doesn't stop me from tryin' tho' *G*), recreation director for a children's home for troubled adolescents, system configurer (is that a word? anyway, I assembled PCs from the motherboard up), and network technician, just to hit the highlights. Yeah, maybe I've got a little "Jill-of-all-trades" thing going. My teaching philosophy is fairly simple and straightforward: learning should be natural and fun. However, that does not mean it always occurs easily. Oftentimes, the environment and the task take great effort to set up correctly to induce the learning process. In addition, understanding often takes time as well as effort - something that is occasionally overlooked by my students. I believe in cooperative learning, in effective use of technology, in appropriate use of models and manipulatives, and in inquiry-based learning. However, I realize all of those "catchwords" can be misunderstood as well as misused. Thus, I believe in their use, but only so far as they are appropriate and effective. Other than common sense, I rely on current research and resources from organizations like the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) to help me define the right balance. I will admit to being a reformed "chalk and talk" teacher. I have seen the profound effect of allowing students to ask and answer their own questions, to guide their own learning, and to take responsibility for their own cognitive processes. True, this type of teaching takes a lot more planning and preparation time for me as a teacher than simply reciting a 50-minute lecture; however, I have found that it is well worth it. When students actually learn information, not simply memorize it to recite on a test then forget a week later, it is a beautiful thing.
To be honest, I consider myself an educator, not a researcher. I have never been interested in conducting meta-studies with mega students - mostly because of my own opinion that, although much of this research is valuable and useful, little of it actually gets disseminated to those individuals who could actually use it. For that reason, I am interested in research that has practical and useful applications; for example, I am interested in determining how to offer effective in-service sessions to teachers whose opinions on technology in the mathematics classroom might not be based on all the facts and who simply need to be shown HOW it can help them and their students. I think once teachers see the impact of something like the graphing calculator or Geometer's Sketchpad, they will be convinced and they will "buy in" to the idea of effective technology use. Furthermore, I believe that when it comes from the teacher herself, she will be much more willing to make the effort involved than if she is just told to do something because of a new policy, a new standardized test, or, even worse, just because TPTB (the-powers-that-be) say so. There are many areas like this that I am interested in. Here in the United States, we have a huge teacher shortage. What is interesting is that the shortage is NOT because universities are not producing enough teachers or even that the state is not certifying enough teachers; the shortage is the direct result of those who go into teaching only lasting a year or two before they quit and go on to other career choices. Why is this happening? Research shows that, surprisingly, it is NOT related to salary. I personally believe it is because our teacher preparation programs are not reality based. I think back on my own "training"; it was my senior year before I even set foot in a classroom to see what it was really like to be a teacher. I had no training in any of the intangibles that are required to be a good teacher: multi-tasking, people skills, diplomacy, politics, time management, discipline & control issues, authentic assessment, creating an environment conducive to learning, and myriad other things. I think if our teacher-preparation programs are more field-based, then they will be more successful in producing good, long-term teachers. For those of you interested in knowing more detail about me, you may click the links below.
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