About Ms. Zaruba

My name is Robin E. Zaruba & this is my 11th year to teach middle school math. I love math!!! I have taught math for Denton ISD for 23 years and before that, I worked in higher education for 8 years as a student development specialist at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University. I got my B.S. in Psychology from UT-Arlington ('85), my M.Ed. in Counselor Education from U.N.T.('87) and my teaching certification in math from T.W.U. ('96). I was born in California, but moved to Texas when I was 4 years old. When I was in 4th grade, I moved to Isfahan, Iran & stayed there until 9th grade. While I was in Iran, I went to the American School of Isfahan & skipped 5th grade. I have always loved math & my main goal as a teacher is to prepare my students for success in all their math classes, as well as to help them see how much fun math can be. In 2015, was when I was selected by a Denton ISD Top 30 Graduate as an "Educator of Influence". In 2017, I was named RCMS Teacher of the Year. What a huge honor!

I have been married for 27 years to my husband, Andy Webster - a Little Elm High School Teacher of the Year, and we have two children, Gabriella (19) who is a Science2Medicine student & Terry Scholar at the Texas A&M University and Gavin (17) who is a 12th grader at Ryan High School.

My hobbies are kayaking, playing games/solving puzzles, crafting, sailing, traveling, painting watercolors, reading, shopping, watching movies & T.V., spending time with my family, and hanging out with my friends.

My favorite color is red, my favorite drink is Diet Coke, my favorite candy is Dove dark chocolate, and my favorite thing to eat is anything someone else makes for me (ha!). I especially love Mexican or Thai food. I enjoy reading mystery thrillers, listening to a variety of singers (alternative music, Michael Buble, Lenny Kravitz, Matisyahu, James Taylor, UB40, Prince, & 80's music, etc.), and looking for new things to use in the classroom to enhance my instruction (music, videos, games, puzzles, crafts, literature, websites, etc). I am also committed to participating in community service activities with my family.

I was fortunate to spend 2 weeks in Antigua, Guatemala during the summers of 2015 & 2016 as part of an International Teacher Exchange Program.

I hope this gives you a better idea who I am. Feel free to email me with questions or tell me about yourself - rzaruba@dentonisd.org