About Me

Bio & Philosophy

I started studying Actuarial Science in grad school with the intent to work in the field of retirement. I instead returned to education, continuing my work as a Math Tutor. As such, I began exploring new neuroscientific research and educational theories to improve the experience of my students. I’ve also been working as an online Math Interventionist to help students who are further behind or otherwise not succeeding on standardized exams to increase their scores and flexibility with mathematical reasoning. I have recently also acquired certifications in Social Emotional Learning and Trauma Informed Care.

I remember struggling with the process of “borrowing from a neighbor” when subtracting as a child. Something about the personification of numbers really caused me so much confusion. I struggled so hard that I created an alternative method – because using different wording while doing the same process was just not enough – to do these same subtraction problems. I recognize my biggest asset in this process was my strong mathematical reasoning, not my ability to memorize facts or terminology. 

I have continued to see this in my students throughout my career: memory and terminology is important, but the biggest difference in a student’s relationship with math is their mathematical reasoning. As such, I try to emphasize the Socratic method and exploration and discovery. Through that process I also try to convey one of my own personal philosophies: success is iterative. That’s a math nerd way to put it, I know, but I mean success is a process not a finish line. More often than not, we all slowly work toward improvements of all sorts and math education is no different. 

Further, I think through that process we can discover a wealth of information about ourselves and the world around us. What is math if not breaking down reality into understandable bits of information conveyed through a formal, structured language as a means to comprehend and communicate about it? 

Math isn’t normally seen as a study you engage in to develop social skills, but I think ultimately the goals are communication and reasoning. I have a Math degree with an emphasis in Applied Math because I have a deep love of Probability and Statistics. Those are elements of Math we do use in very social settings, that we run into and discuss with one another, even when we do avoid math out of fear. We don’t always get that conversation right when we do it, but I think it’s meaningful that we’re trying. So I think we, as humans, want to understand math and want to talk about it more, but it’s just not yet a societal norm.