Math with Courtney Z.

Just a brief background, I started my career at Coca-Cola bottling company in 2003 as an Information Systems Analyst. I quickly discovered a lack of fulfillment in the dynamics of a corporate environment and was extremely fortunate to uncover my deeply rewarding passion for teaching. To this extent, I completed my bachelor’s degree in Mathematics (2003) and my master’s degree in Mathematics Education (2008) at The University of North Carolina Charlotte while I was teaching at Alexander Graham Middle School. As a middle and, subsequently a high school teacher, I gained the classroom experience from a wide spectrum of ethnic, cultural, religious and other demographic backgrounds from families considered to be across the extreme range of socioeconomic statuses. . My experience also includes work with a variety of cognitive and physical disabilities. Among these opportunities came extensive work as an advanced placement instructor where I had the privilege of learning to teach a wide spectrum of learner types. I feel that it is imperative to understand the unique makeup of a student and the circumstances that surround them outside of the classroom to meet their respective needs inside a classroom. I learned to facilitate an enriching, open and safe environment where differences are respected and celebrated in order to create an educational setting that enhanced my students’ abilities to learn without judging each other and/or themselves. Through a number of evidence-based educational strategies, including discovery, cooperative, and differentiated learning, I have had the privilege of witnessing my students exceed expected growth across all subsets for over ten years of my teaching career. In fact, I have been recognized with some of the highest performance growth scores in the Forsyth County School system in each year that I taught. After lowering my teaching load to spend more time rearing my now, 4-year old daughter and after successfully transitioning our lives from North Carolina (November, 2018), I am now enthusiastically seeking the opportunity to reach a bit further and extend my research- based teaching philosophy to a smaller, more individualized group of learners.