Yo. I am Al Mendle, a first year L & I doctoral student at USF. One of my children is named Adrienne, so I have earned the right to say, "Yo." When I am not going to doctor school, I might be working at UC Davis, hanging with family and friends, playing some on-line hotshot in a game of Scrabble or trying to create photographic masterpieces in the virtual darkroom of my computer. In my fantasy world, I would love to be playing racquetball, but most of my buddies have too many injuries and hard-luck stories to join me on the court. Oh well.
Professional Life
I have had three dream jobs. For twenty-five years, I taught in Vacaville, CA. Fifteen years were at the elementary level and ten years were at the secondary level in math. During those years, I also found a professional home in the Northern California Mathematics Project at UC Davis. Towards the end of my Vacaville tenure, the Mathematics Project started to buy-out a part of my District contract and I became involved in staff development endeavors. While working with the Mathematics Project, UC Davis’s School of Ed asked me to teach in their program. I began as an adjunct, and ultimately took a full-time slot as a lecturer and supervisor of teacher education. Although these changes have been scary, the results have been incredibly gratifying.Why a Doctorate
Like Sir Edmund Hillary said of conquering Mount Everest, "It’s there." As an arrogant 20-something, I rejected the notion of earning a doctorate even when offered a fellowship. Armed with 20-20 hindsight, I not only regret that, I see value in the research enterprise. I am determined to make a contribution. Although I anticipate receiving my degree and qualifying for Social Security on approximately the same day, my work will be uniquely tempered by lots of experience with children, teachers and preservice candidates.
Potential Project Topics
Lee Shulman said, "To teach is to understand." I want to look at teacher understandings in mathematics. Do teachers understand what they teach? The question is not trivial, and it is not confined to the realm of higher mathematics. As Liping Ma showed, the understanding of elementary mathematics affects what we teach and how we teach it. Although I am especially interested in preservice teacher understanding, I also want to explore what practicing teachers know and do as well.
3 comments:
Hey Cousin Al
I like your ideas about discovering "what" math teachers actually know about the realm of mathematics and how they impart that understanding. My own interests are the use of creativity in math (both instructing and learning). Perhaps a possible topic would be to catalog different "best practices" from successful teachers and then examine what makes those practices successful? If you're interested in doing a project together using that topic (or any other in math pedagogy) let me know. I would like to work with you sometime.
Vito
Yo Cuz,
That sounds like a great idea. I am already spinning ways to combine my interests with yours. They seem to form a good fit. Obviously, we need to talk and dig a little more.
In the FYI department, I work with a parent of a Jesuit High student who has advised me that you are one legendary math teacher. Although her son is not in your class, she said that you have left an indelibly good mark on many students. That was nice to hear.
Al
Hey you two (Al and Vito)...
Although I'm not your cousin (thank goodness), I was wondering if I could work with you two on something related to math pedagogy. Right now, my big interest is explicitly requiring my math students to work creatively and imaginatively...Yes, they moan and groan...but they do seem to learn in a more expert way.
If three's not a crowd, could I tag along with you two on this project?
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