I hope my students leave my class with a stronger ability to use math to engage with the world. I want them to empower themselves through critical thinking and logic, as practiced in my classroom. More than that, I hope my students leave remembering that there is someone who will always support and be cheering for them, and someone who is always in their corner.
Lauren’s Story
Teaching Discipline
Math
Why Math
Math was always a subject I loved in high school. I felt it made sense, and I enjoyed working through each puzzle to find a solution. I also felt most connected to my math teachers and spent a lot of time working with them and offering to tutor other students. When I got to college, it seemed like the natural fit to teach. However, I quickly realized that college math would be more challenging than it used to be. I struggled through my first year of undergraduate school enough to contemplate switching majors. However, my original goal was never to find joy in math itself (though that is still important); instead, it was to become a teacher. I believe that being a teacher who can genuinely connect with and understand why the students get confused, how it feels to struggle to the point of giving up, and what it feels like to dislike math will help me connect with students and be a more effective teacher. I hope to get my students to see that, like me, they may struggle initially, but eventually, things will make sense.
Professional Experience
While in her Undergraduate program, Lauren student taught at Berkeley High School and worked as a tutor for a program called Bridge. She has also just finished up her first two years of teaching at this same school teaching geometry, quadratics, and Newcomer Math. Newcomer Math is a class for newly immigrated students that covers everything from how to say numbers in English and basic arithmetic to pre-algebra.
Lauren will start her third year of teaching at Berkley High School, Berkeley, California in the 2024-2025 school year.
Hobbies
In her free time, Lauren loves hanging out with her roommates and friends, and watching YouTube videos.
Academic Background
- University of California (Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, Science and Mathematics Education Minor)