My name is Ms. MacLean, and I am a proud RAM! I grew up in Orlando, but I have lived in Gainesville for the last 12 years. I attended the University of Florida and received a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics (the study of languages). I worked as an SAT/ACT College Prep Specialist after graduation and loved helping my students so much that I decided to pursue additional courses in math and secondary education at Santa Fe College here in Gainesville. I have been teaching for 9 years, and this is my third year at Eastside High School.
It may seem unusual that I began my career in languages and now work in math, but to me, it makes sense. Math can seem like a "foreign language" to a lot of students. In Spanish or French class, you will have to memorize new vocabulary and learn grammar (the order words go in). In my math class, our "vocabulary" will be new formulas and math terms. We demonstrate our knowledge of "grammar" when we follow the steps of a process in the proper order, such as when we apply the order of operations.
Math is everywhere, even if you may not realize it. My goal for this year is for you to end the year feeling more confident, more willing to take risks, and more "fluent" in the language of math!
"It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul."
- Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (1850 – 1891, first major Russian female mathematician)
The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.
- Paul Halmos (1916 – 2006, Hungarian-born mathematician)