More About John

My vision and goal as a math teacher

I want to make math accessible to anyone who has the desire and time to learn it. For most of us (including me) learning math is not always easy, but I want to make the experience as enjoyable, straightforward, and relevant as possible for my students.

Whether we like it or not, math is becoming increasingly important in our world. Wall street analysts, land-use managers, video game creators, animators, music composers, and thousands of other occupations depend on mathematical knowledge--or software based on that knowledge--to get the job done. Moreover, a strong background in mathematics puts you at a great advantage when learning other disciplines. As you continue your education, you'll find that many of your subjects depend on mathematical models to explain how and why things work. If you know the math, you've won half the game in terms of learning these subjects. Math extends your horizons--and your educational/career choices.

I also have an ulterior motive for teaching mathematics. I love math. Why would anybody love math, a subject dreaded by so many people? I can't say I really know. I think it has to do with getting good at math in high school. I believe, generally, what we're good at, we like. The catch is, the only way to get good at a subject is to work hard at it (especially math). Thus, even if you don't like math now, you may well later if you give yourself the chance to get good at it by working hard. And once you get good at math, you may find some unexpected vistas opening up: math is full of unexpected connections, and deep, creative ideas. What I love most about math is its creative nature. Whenever I lead a student to one of these vistas so that they can see for themselves--well, that's that's the ultimate experience for a teacher.

My background and interests

I mainly grew up in that quaint backwater on the west coast know as Los Angeles, but also in Virginia for a couple years. I sort of dropped out of my last two years of high school to attend Loyola Marymount University. I finished my college education a mere 17 years later, at UC San Diego, where I got a B.A. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Math. During those 17 years I was alternately a student, laborer, construction worker, traveler, engineer, and more recently, teacher, husband, and father. Since graduate school I've remained a teacher, husband and father, but I also developed databases and did a Postdoc in pure math research.

For my hobbies, I tend to gravitate toward endeavors that offer dubious rewards in return for huge investments of time and effort, like writing music and thinking about quantum mechanics. My wife and I do a lot of Israeli dancing, which has elements of dance styles from all over the world, including Latin and Hip-Hop, as well as more traditional folk dance steps. Something slightly unusual about me is that I took a full decade off my career to raise my three kids (and also a few nieces and nephews here and there). I've somehow managed to hoodwink various nephews, a niece, a son, and a daughters to hike the John Muir Trail (220 miles from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney) with me--three times! They're on to me now, so next time I may have to recruit from outside the family.