mester, I ask them what they want to do when they finish school. This helps me connect to
them and show them how the study of mathematics can be essential for achieving their
goals.
A major aspect of what I am as a teacher are my beliefs. I am convinced that as human be-
ings we all have the same “brain,” so we all can learn. I also really feel that people have a re-
sponsibility toward each other and that the more our society educates teenagers, the better
their lives will be, and the better the world will be.
Before high school, I did well in math, but I did not consider myself anything special.
When I took 9th-grade algebra, I received good grades, but in 10th-grade geometry, I truly ex-
celled. My sister, who was a year older than I was, was a grade ahead in school. That year we
took different statewide standardized final exams in math and we both scored 100. This was
a relatively small high school and it was a rare phenomenon for two sisters to get 100% on
the “Regents” exams. Suddenly the teachers took notice of us. When I came back to school in
the fall, it seemed like they all knew my name. The math department had especially high ex-
pectations for me, and in response to attention from my teachers, I started to work in a dif-
ferent way. I began to deeply understand fractions, decimals, and percentages, and I realized
that I could explain them to other people. I thought, “Gee, maybe I should be a math
teacher.” After that, I never thought of becoming anything else.
I attended the City College of New York from 1967 until 1971 during a turbulent period
when it seemed as if the entire country was debating issues such as U.S. involvement in Viet-
nam and the future of race relations. During those 4 years the campus was shut twice for ex-
tended periods of time because of student strikes. At the time, many women were making
the decision to become teachers. Some of the women in the education program chose teach-
ing because it was the kind of work they could see themselves doing; they did not envision
other possibilities. Some figured it was a nice job and they would get out by 3:00. But for me,
I really thought I could make a difference in the world as a teacher. To prepare myself, I
worked as a counselor in an interracial, nonsectarian, sleep-away camp sponsored by a com-
munity center in Brooklyn, New York. I also student taught at my old high school, which be-
cause of demographic changes, now had a largely Black and Latino student population. The
only regret I have about my decisions at that time in my life is not entering the master’s pro-
gram in math education at Harvard. When I told my parents I had been accepted, they said,
“Made what? You’ve gotta work. You’ve been going to school for 4 years. Go out and get a
job.” Sometimes I wonder what would have happened in my life if I had been able to make
that other choice.
The summer camp where I worked was both an exciting and difficult place and I learned a
lot there about being a teacher. One experience I especially remember was a 3-day hike along
a river I took with a group of racially and ethnically mixed junior-high-school-age boys and
girls. Everything you could imagine went wrong on that hike and that is what made it so great.
We were eaten by bugs so badly that the kids could not sleep. One night the rain was pouring
so hard that we had to huddle in a culvert. I remember one of the girls hid her underwear and
the other kids were teasing her. She had started to menstruate during the hike, and she did
not know what it was. When the counselors realized what was going on, we called for a group
meeting and discussed with the campers what was happening to this girl and what it meant to
care about each other. That remains the most amazing discussion I ever had with kids. It
taught me how much was possible working with teenagers and the importance of developing a
sense of community by working together to achieve a common goal.
Another really important thing I learned working at the camp is not to be punitive. You
can set limits for kids without making them feel like they are trapped in a box with no way
out. A teacher needs to combine firmness with caring. Kids respond to caring when you let
RESPONSIBILITIES 53