“So I, um, grew up in California, and I grew up in a completely different time than it is now. So girls’ job outlooks were basically that you were either going to be a teacher, a nurse, or a secretary. That was pretty much it, so I went towards teaching, although looking back now, I think I would have been a really good engineer because I really enjoyed physics and chemistry and all the problem-solving.

I went to a really small college called Fresno Pacific University. It’s really small, kind of like a George Fox type of school. And then I got a degree in math. It was actually a Bachelor of Arts degree in math and math teaching. 

Then I taught for three years in a school in California, and then I stopped for 23 years, and I had five kids, and so a lot of what I’ve learned about teaching I learned from raising my kids and volunteering in elementary school math classes, and that’s probably why my classroom looks the way it does. It’s not necessarily a traditional math room.

My philosophy for teaching is that I would rather students figure it out on their own than have me tell them how to do it. So that’s why we do games and puzzles and some of those pieces in our class that kind of feel less mathy, they’re more gamey, but that’s because you’re figuring things out.

I think it sticks with students longer if they figure it out on their own. I also know that about 90% of the population, math is probably their least favorite math class in high school. And so, especially in discrete math, I want to create a situation where students can see that math is not necessarily just one plus one is two. You know what I’m saying? It’s got more to it. And there’s way more out there than just calculus. And so that’s kind of my philosophy.

My other philosophy is, if you can’t have fun, then why do it? So I really enjoy having fun with math, and I’m not sure if the students get there, but that’s kind of my philosophy. One of the things that gives me great confidence is the fact that I’ve raised five kids, and they’re all completely different from each other, but they’re all successful adults. They’ve all graduated from college, they all have careers, they all have partners. Yeah, it’s just I feel confident in where my kids are, so that gives me confidence teaching kids.”