Students are critical thinkers with a broad understanding of the liberal arts

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching

I started my Colgate education thinking of myself as a "math/science" person and would do my best to "get through" the liberal arts requirements. However, after four and a half years at a liberal arts institution, I see my own thinking and teaching as interdisciplinarily informed. Through my math major I learned the complexities of many types of math, such as calculus, number theory, and probability. However, taking a variety of courses in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences has shown me that teaching is much more than simply being a content expert. I was able to explore ancient texts, modern American literature, political science, geology and computer science which exposed me to different ways of thinking and interconnecting seemingly unrelated disciplines.

While I expected my Educational Studies classes to focus on pedagogy and how to be a good teacher on a daily basis, these courses challenged me to think about education on a more sociological level. Undoubtedly, an important part of teaching is building positive relationships with your students, but how can I get to know my students if I don't understand their backgrounds and cultures they come from? I took for granted that my students would have similar white, suburban backgrounds to my own, but my Educational Studies courses challenged this norm. Courses such as The American School, Race and Education, Special and Inclusive Education, and my student teaching seminars provided a theoretical basis for social justice-informed teaching. I also took a Research Methods course and a seminar on High Needs Schools that emphasized teachers as researchers, which helped me bridge a mental gap I had between my identity as a Colgate student, and my identity as a student teacher. I learned to be a critical teacher who analyzed not just how the choices I made affected student understanding of math, but how I could teach in culturally relevant, relatable ways. Early in my Colgate career I saw my academic and teaching identities as opposing, but I now see them as complementary.

Community Involvement

The liberal arts emphasizes a deep understanding of your community and of your students, which I gained both in the classroom and from activities I have been involved in on campus and in the community. I have been a middle and high school math tutor for students at Madison Central School and Hamilton Central School. One of the most rewarding programs I was involved with was Let's Get Ready, which provides free SAT prep to local students. I was a math tutor and then a director of this program over four years and worked with high school juniors from a variety of local schools to prepare for the SAT. While I am critical of the merits of the SAT, access to affordable test prep is practically non-existent in rural Central New York, so I was proud to provide some equity in access as well as build relationships with local high school students. I also ran an after-school math club for elementary students at Hamilton Central School last year, which was extremely fun, but solidified my desire to teach secondary school.

Perhaps the most important step I took to prepare for my student teaching placement was spending a year observing math classes at Sherburne-Earlville High School. I got to know the school, teachers and students very well during this time and learned about some of the challenges students face, both at home and as math students. I was welcomed in to a warm and positive community and did not feel entirely like an outsider on my first day of student teaching. My experiences in my Colgate Educational Studies courses convinced me that I should do everything possible to become familiar with my school before I started student teaching. It was not enough to know how to explain mathematical concepts; I needed to know how to teach math in a specific context. 

Photos courtesy of colgate.edu, syracuse.com