CPAM Member Spotlight

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As a 2017 PAEMST awardee, I had yet to fully discover what I already accomplished and what was yet to come. Currently, this is my 31st year in education, with 26 years being in the same high school and now 5 years as a Curriculum Specialist for the same district. Looking back on my career and seeing how much I have grown has been impactful.

I actually had left the classroom to become the curriculum specialist a few months before I had even received the PAEMST award. During my first 10 years as a teacher, I had the opportunity to work with several groups of high risk students as well as the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) organization. These initial opportunities provided me with a chance to see how using math could help both the struggling students and the highly focused students. These initial interactions led to finding ways to engage with Texas Instruments and CBR activities. Getting kids out of the room and out of the traditional book problems allowed me to build rapport, engage with students and see the true joy of teaching mathematics.

My next 10 years of teaching, the cluster I was a part of lost funding and I started focusing more on the MESA program. I was able to quickly see how to tie these projects, as well as the previous TI projects, into all of my math classes as well. Math class started to become a way for me to find fun projects that were connected to the curriculum as a conduit to keep students wanting to come to class. Also during this time, I was able to help develop three national award winning MESA teams - mousetrap powered car, wind powered device and a prosthetic arm competition. These experiences led to even more chances to build rapport and created opportunities for me to inspire students. This led to winning local awards for teaching as well as Outstanding Teacher of America and then ultimately the path to both NBCT and PAEMST.

Since I have won PAEMST, I have been able to be more involved in CMC (taking 50-60 teachers to CMC Asilomar annually), as well as T^3, NCTM and NCSM. The PAEMST award has allowed me to begin making contacts across the country and work with my district to begin building internal leadership. I have been able to bring groups of teachers to NCTM, T^3 (soon to start a TLC cadre) and have recently started to build my first NCSM cohort. Helping the other teachers in my district to see their influence and their ability to affect students has been one of the greatest joys in my teaching career. Seeing myself as a leader has really come from seeing others step up and start becoming leaders themselves.

All of these accomplishments have been amazing and impacted by many other professionals along the path, but my real support has come from my family. My amazing wife, Mary, has been by my side since college and was also a mathematics teacher. She has always supported me and pushed me to be better than I even thought. Also my three outstanding kids (Isaac, Ian and Emma) for all of the times when the “fun” time was spent watching one of Daddy’s MESA competitions. My family has been an inspiration to my career and allowed me to become the educator I am today. PAEMST has opened my eyes to what it means to be a leader, how to leverage my connections and gave me a chance to reflect on my teaching practice and career.