I would like to get into teaching because I enjoy it. Since high school I have held a few jobs, from retail and food services to working n an office, and have really not enjoyed any of them. I quickly came to the conclusion that if I was going to do something for the next 25 to 30 years of my life that I wanted to do something that I enjoyed.
When I was in college I thought that I would go into research in physics or mathematics, maybe both. I became active with some research projects and undergraduate experiences, which I enjoyed a great deal, but I could not stand classes. The lectures robbed the beauty from the subjects that first attracted me to physics and math in the first place. Throughout my college years I was tutoring and sometimes teaching a small group of children in algebra and calculus, and found that I also enjoyed teaching and explaining the ideas and logic behind the problems.
So coming into my final year at Stevens I decided to sit in on a class about the basic elements of teaching. I never enjoyed a class as much as this one. The communication and ideas flowing in the classroom made me realize that this was something that I would want to know more about, and since I also had some experience in teaching I knew that this was something I already enjoyed and had a talent for. So I decided that instead of pursuing a doctorate in physics and math that I would go to Montclair and learn to become a more effective teacher. So far this has been a very enjoyable experience as I love the classes and being a TA in the basic skills lab.
I choose to concentrate on mathematics for one reason. The reason is that I believe that mathematics is one of the most important subjects for students to understand, but it is also one of the most difficult subjects to get interested in and learn about. I think that I can effectively teach students about mathematics and at the same time get them interested in the subject by showing how it is connected to so much of our everyday life.
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