All About Ms. Liu

Bio

My official name is Jianan Liu. I grew up in Shanghai, China. It is located at the end of the mother river, Yangtze River, so it has always been a place with lots of business and trades. My name is related to a prophecy. After I was born, my birth time was recorded and taken to a fortune teller. To honor the balance of the five elements, the fortune teller told my parents that I need a wood element in my name. After long discussion, I was named 佳楠 (Jianan), which literary means "a good phoebe tree". It embodies my parents' wish of growing into a good person that is dependable and strong. 

Therefore, by the time I was 15, I came to the U.S. on a student visa (F1) to attend high school. I spent my high school and college time in San Diego. Based on my interest, I chose to enroll at UC San Diego choosing to work on an Applied Mathematics degree. I took a math teaching class, and I loved it. I eventually got my Master of Education in Single Subject credential in Mathematics at UC San Diego in Summer 2022. 

Denman is the first school I work full-time at, and this will be my second year of teaching. Right now I am teaching 6th grade Math and Science, and I am looking forward to seeing my students.

Teaching Philosophy

Math is about communication and reasoning. Science is about questioning, experimenting and concluding. Students have foundation from other classes taken and their personal experience. It is my job to utilize these foundations and build upon them.I encourage participation and group work. Everyone has their strength one way or another, and it is only through active learning they grow. I also need to make sure students feel safe to keep challenging themselves and ask for different resources to solidify their thoughts. With practice, students are going to find their way that best supports themselves in math and science learning.  

Interests

I am a peaceful and quiet person who enjoys binge-watching anime. I have watched over 170 anime in the course of over 10 years. My favorites are: Assasination Classroom, Violet Evergarden, Natsume's Book of Friends. I also like touching animals. I held a baby alligator and fed an emu in Miami. I also held lots of animals before such as rabbits, chicken, parrots and more.