{"id":341,"date":"2018-08-16T16:04:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T20:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/?p=341"},"modified":"2018-08-16T16:04:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T20:04:58","slug":"math-isnt-dead-high-school-math-teacher-finds-joy-in-graduate-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/2018\/08\/16\/math-isnt-dead-high-school-math-teacher-finds-joy-in-graduate-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Math Isn’t Dead! High School Math Teacher Finds Joy in Graduate Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blog by Jordan Brooks<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Howdy! I\u2019m a Texas transplant who\u2019s been a high school mathematics teacher for 8 years now.\u00a0 I came into the field in a roundabout way \u2013 my undergraduate degree was in geography and I originally planned to teach high school social studies.\u00a0 Well, I quickly learned that in Texas, you\u2019d better be coaching something if you want to teach those courses!\u00a0 Coaching not really being my thing, I settled on teaching my minor \u2013 mathematics.\u00a0 A marriage of convenience quickly grew into something I genuinely enjoyed.<\/p>\n

I moved up here with my wife when she got accepted into the Cranbrook Academy of Art to pursue a master\u2019s degree in painting, and I soon got degree envy myself!\u00a0 Looking at the options in the area, it seemed that there weren\u2019t many programs willing to accommodate someone like me, who didn\u2019t truly have a background in mathematics.\u00a0 I took exactly 4 math courses as an undergrad, and I like to joke that I got all the grades \u2013 A, B, C, and D!\u00a0 Quite frankly, I was an idiot as an undergrad, and my 12-credit hour, 2.5 GPA mathematical journey didn\u2019t exactly meet the minimum standards posted on local program\u2019s websites.\u00a0 However, teaching mathematics through the years taught me an appreciation for the field and opened my mind to a world much bigger than I previously thought.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it was such a breath of fresh air to attend the Mathematics Open House last year.\u00a0 Through speaking with Dr. McLeman, the program chair, I discovered that it would be possible for someone like me to enroll in a mathematics master\u2019s degree.\u00a0 My undergrad self and I are two very different people, and I\u2019m so thankful I can show that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in the program for one year now, having taken four courses in the afternoons and evenings (it accommodates my job as a teacher!)\u00a0 During that time, I\u2019ve studied under several expert instructors in intimate class sizes.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been able to learn more and more about this field that I love, and I often have the opportunity to share the things I learn with my high school students!\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to put into words, but it\u2019s as if a part of my brain, long dormant, has finally been unlocked.\u00a0 It is a sublime feeling to learn, to be challenged, and to grow.<\/p>\n

I also had the opportunity to be a part of a graduate student research assistantship.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always wanted to see what cutting edge mathematical research is like (or even what it is in the first place), and I had the opportunity to dig into some pretty cool stuff that maybe no one else has dug into yet.\u00a0 That\u2019s a neat feeling!\u00a0 Mathematics isn\u2019t dead, as some students may claim \u2013 it\u2019s alive and well!<\/p>\n

In sum, it\u2019s been a fantastic experience so far, and I would tell anyone on the fence about their decision to take the plunge.\u00a0 Come discover with us!<\/p>\n

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Blog by Jordan Brooks   Howdy! I\u2019m a Texas transplant who\u2019s been a high school mathematics teacher for 8 years now.\u00a0 I came into the field in a roundabout way \u2013 my undergraduate degree was in geography and I originally planned to teach high school social studies.\u00a0 Well, I quickly learned that in Texas, you\u2019d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-graduate-school-general","category-math"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.umflint.edu\/graduateprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}