L+T - Teaching Fellow Amanda Michels - my year at UNSW Sydney School of Maths and Stats

Abstract: 

In many respects, the past year as a Teaching Fellow at UNSW Sydney has been a dream come true.  For me, it has been a unique experience that has expanded my mathematical horizons, in particular as I go back to teaching at high school next year.

In truth, there was some apprehension as my work retreated online, but on reflection, the online experience has not been disappointing.  For me, the opportunity to work with different tutors has been enlightening and, at times, prompted a different way of viewing the teaching challenge.

The pandemic punctured routine and, in my view, helped create what I call an online mathematics' community that, together, sought to overcome any potential negative from the absence of classroom experience.

Biography

I have been a primary and high school Maths teacher for 15 years. I began my teaching career at a highly academic private school in New York City and moved to Sydney in 2015, where I have been teaching at Redlands, Cremorne. Prior to that, I worked as a derivates quantitative analyst in investment banking in London and New York, and as a loan officer in a microfinance NGO in rural Nicaragua. Before that, I obtained a D. Phil. in Theoretical Physics (Oxford) and a B.Sc.(Hons.) in Physics and Pure Maths (Adelaide).