The first hurdle that students need to clear in high school is passing their Math 1 class. For some, that hurdle is cleared before even attending Armijo. For others, it is a challenge. It is not easy, but when the work is consistently done, it is rewarding.

Ms. Maddy Heisler teaches the class at Armijo, but she used to teach it in middle school so she is familiar with the curriculum. In the class, students learn about functions, sequences, systems of equations, and geometry. Most of the work is done individually or in groups, although Ms. Heisler is hoping to have some group projects in her class later in the year.

Working in groups helps students to piece things together, sharing their understanding with each other so that they can get a better understanding on their own.

Some goals that Ms. Heisler has for this year are to give the students a solid foundation in algebra, so that they feel prepared to move on to math 2. She hasn’t been able to teach everything that she wants, but hopes to incorporate it missing concepts into her lessons in the upcoming months..

Ms. Heisler had wanted to be a teacher since she was five years old, but it was in college that she realized how much she loved math. Her favorite part about being a teacher is seeing those special moments with her students when they have an ‘’Aha! moment’’ and realize how smoothly the concepts and the practice of math fit together, and she hopes to see lots of those moments in her Math 1 classes.