When high school math teacher Marty Romero accepted the UCLA
math department’s offer to teach classes in Westwood for a
year, he thought it would be a lot easier than the 40-hour weeks at
Wilson High School in Los Angeles.
But he soon realized his assumption was wrong.
“It’s more work than I thought it would be,”
Romero said.
Romero comes to UCLA under the Visiting High School Mathematics
Teacher Program, which has brought a Los Angeles-area teacher to
the math department for the past 20 years. Teachers take on courses
such as pre-calculus and small upper division classes for
undergraduate students aspiring to become math instructors.
Despite the workload, Romero maintains that the fundamentals of
teaching are the same both in college and in high school.
“College students are just kids, there’s not much
difference. I’ve taught kids all my life ““ it’s
no big deal,” Romero said.
Romero added that lecturing to a large class is clearly
different from working in small high school classes, but he enjoys
speaking in front of the masses of students.
Philip Curtis, a UCLA math professor who came up with the idea
for the program, said the department invites an outstanding high
school math teacher from the Los Angeles area to participate each
year.
Curtis explained that past candidates have come from varying
backgrounds; they’ve taught at inner-city and suburban
schools.
Curtis said he is proud of the program’s
accomplishments.
“It’s been very beneficial to the math
department,” Curtis said.
Curtis and Romero both emphasized the program’s ability to
establish ties between the high school and college math
communities.
“We are interested in getting a network of very good high
school teachers established,” Curtis said.
He said past participants are invited back to UCLA each year to
take part in a discussion with the math department.
Romero, however, is not at the point where he is merely
participating in discussions; he’s actively teaching and
adjusting to life at UCLA.
He said he is still acclimating himself to the different
environment of teaching college classes.
Though Romero is going through an adjustment period, he said he
is looking forward to working with students who want to become
teachers and to “giving them the (teaching) bug.”
Lucia Avina, a student in Romero’s math instruction class
for aspiring high school math teachers, said Romero’s
enthusiasm is inspiring.
Avina, a fourth-year general math student, said she sees a
difference in Romero’s high school teaching style.
“(At UCLA), professors do care ““ well, some of them
do ““ but high school teachers seem to have a different
energy,” she said.
Despite the program’s success, budget cuts in the early
1990s suspended the program for three years, Curtis said. He added
that current budget issues continue to threaten the program.
“It remains to be seen what will happen next year,”
he said