Welcome to My Class!

I love teaching and I love mathematics!  This is my eighth year at Madison High School and I am located in room C-8, which is near the Cafeteria and main entrance of the school.  This year I am teaching Algebraic Reasoning and Algebra I.  A little about me: I enjoy life in all shapes and sizes, including bugs and all animals and plants.  I am one of those people that is kind of "too" happy and optimistic, which students tell me can be annoying, but I can't help being a happy person!  I have a tendency to rescue cockroaches and other random bugs that find their way into my classroom, which typically leaves students speechless. I collect "Giant Microbes", which are stuffed animals representing viruses, bacteria, protozoa, parasites, etc. I use these randomly throughout the school year for conversation and ice breakers.  I have lived in many different countries and have visited even more, so I feel I have a different approach to many things.  Prior to moving here to San Antonio, I lived in Malberg, Germany, just down the street from a lovely little castle.

I took up weight lifting a few years ago and, despite the pandemic, have still managed to keep at it, though I will definitely not be competitive!  So if your student tells you that I did push ups because I made a mathematical error on the board - it's true!

My current goal in life is to save up and travel to Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway - the most northern city in the world! Longyearbyen is about 650 miles south of the North pole and is a great place to see the Aurora Borealis, polar bears, reindeer, walruses, etc. Also, it houses the Arctic World Archive and the Global Seed Vault - in case the worst situations become reality.  Overall, I think it's fascinating and I want to go before I get too old to be comfortable in temperatures as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit.  I'd also like to visit the Galapagos Islands, and the Faroe Islands, but Svalbard first!