Dear
Students,
I wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little
bit about the person you’ve signed up with to give you new insights in the area
of Mathematics. Whether you know it yet
or not, your success in this course is partially based on how we interact. Many students believe that their success is
directly related to the enthusiasm of their teachers and many teachers believe
that their success depends on the energy their students are willing to invest
in the course. It is my belief that it
takes two to tango. If either of us is
lacking in how much we invest then success will be difficult, certainly not as
fun. We can start by getting to know
each other.
My name is Patricia A. Ritchie Reese. If you’re wondering why my name is so long,
it’s because my maiden name and my married name are put together. I chose to keep my maiden name because I am
the last one in my family to have it, so I thought I’d keep it as long as
possible. I may be older than some of
you, yet younger than others. Even so,
I’m sure we all have something in common.
I have been married for 35 years to an Engineer. Need I say more? Actually, he puts his engineering talents to
work around our house making it our home.
We’re remodeling a 1919 house and we’re doing it all
ourselves. I have a fantastically smart
and enormously funny twenty-two-year-old daughter whom I’m absolutely crazy
about. Can you tell? Yes, 22 and just finishing up college! She attends USC and is a Musical Theatre
major. Our house went quiet when she
left. No more singing and dancing with
friends coming and going. I miss her
very much, but I know she is very happy where she is. She amazes me everyday with the way she sees the
world and she reminds me to remember what is truly important in life. She even thinks I’m okay to be with, crazy
but, fun! The house was so quiet that we
got a puppy. Now it is nuts in our
house. We named her Abbey, but she sure
has “Marley" tendencies. She is a German Sheppard/Australian Sheppard mix,
who loves to run as fast as she can around the house and yard, chasing
squirrels. Our cats are some of the
strangest, laziest cats you’ll ever meet.
We have 3 young cats. They still love
to play with each other and chase every leaf in our yard then proudly carry it
in to show off. We always have leaves on
our floor.
I love Mathematics! I know that may sound strange to some of you,
but it’s true. I’ve always loved
it. I can remember trying to work on my
homework on the way home in the car because I just couldn’t wait to get
started. I’d actually ask my teacher for
the longer “Monster” problems that he’d make up for some of us just for fun. I can still sit for hours and explore the
patterns I see or experiment with new ideas I have. I love to go to math conferences. I’ve been speaking at the Asilomar NCTM Math
Conference for the past 25 years. When I
was a senior in high school my teacher gave me the opportunity to “teach” his
freshman Algebra class for a few lessons while he critiqued and advised
me. It was fantastic! I’ve always known that I wanted to teach
Math, I loved the patterns of numbers and I loved trying to show others how to
have fun with it as well. This incredible
time in front of an actual class sealed the deal for me and I knew I was
hooked.
My official teaching career started with teaching Kindergarten. A far cry from what I’d expected, but a valuable experience indeed. I’d earned two teaching credentials, my secondary mathematics credential and my elementary multiple subjects credential. I knew that having both credentials would make me much more employable, but I didn’t realize that it would provide me with a background that would help me to understand the progression of learning. As I moved on to teach high school mathematics, then 5th through 8th grades, I realized one important difference, they could actually understand my jokes. I received my Masters Degree from CSUS in 1988 and began working with students and teachers at all grade levels. Through my work with University of California Davis Math Project and University of San Diego, I’ve gone into schools and classrooms, providing presentations on various topics of mathematics and computer education. I’ve been teaching Mathematics part time here at Sierra College for the past 20 years. I love teaching here, we have wonderfully dedicated students and it’s a truly beautiful place to work.
Over the years, through all my experiences, I’ve learned that the most important thing in the teaching of Mathematics is to remember to have fun as you learn. Exploration is fundamental in order for real learning to take place, not merely memorizing the facts. Often we rush through something, forgetting that understanding the material is key. For many, mathematics seems rigorous and routine, where one always gets the same expectant answers. In this class I am asking you to be willing to work together with other students to practice and discuss problems. I like to have students work math problems together, and sometimes on the board as practice. You may work with a partner so you can discuss the process and other ideas or methods of solving the problem. Research shows that students develop a deeper understanding of the material when they discuss their thinking process with other students and consider various solution methods. I like an interactive classroom.
Mathematics is beautiful. It is the language that explains the world around us. It allows us to communicate our discoveries from observing our physical world, and it allows us to analyze our theories from studying our scientific data. Mathematics is filled with patterns. Everywhere we look we can see the patterns of life. When we study these patterns we are amazed how what once seemed like chaos, suddenly beams with the light of order. There is beauty in the world around us and there is beauty in the mathematics that provides us with insight into that world. Consider this course as an opportunity to obtain some new tools to assist you on your individual journey into that world.
I’ve told you a little about myself, and how I view the world of mathematics. I’d like to learn something about you and how you see the world. I’m looking forward to getting to know you and sharing what I know about Mathematics. I hope we can have some fun along the way. I know it will be a great semester. Let’s get started!
Sincerely,
Patricia A.
Ritchie Reese