Farwa Hussain

Program

My program of study is in mathematics education.

Undergraduate major

My undergraduate major in in mathematical sciences, and I have one class that I am taking this semester to finish the undergraduate degree.

Background

I don’t have any classroom experience, but I have tutored a few elementary and middle school students in math and science. I also help run our local Sunday school. I teach the students there how to read in Arabic.

Why do you want to teach?

I want to be someone who can encourage people from a young age to be the best that they can be, and to be able to influence their decisions, behaviors, strengths, weaknesses and imaginations.

Please tell us about a memorable teaching experience and why it stands out in your mind.

I recently tried to teach a math lesson to a geometry class on parallel and perpendicular lines and their properties. However, as I was teaching the lesson and trying to incorporate technology (Desmos), most of the students were having trouble understanding what the slope of a line means and what it means to put an equation of a line into y-intercept form. I learned that I can’t assume that students have the background knowledge to participate in the lesson, and that as a teacher, I would have to change lessons and reteach some previous content to help students understand what I am teaching. I hope I have the humility to realize that some of my lessons might never interest my students, and I may have to try again and again to make them relevant to my students.

What has the Noyce program meant to you?

The Noyce program is helping me prepare to be a more equipped secondary math teacher. Because the program is helping me get a master’s degree in teaching, I am able to gain more ideas in classroom management, lesson planning, and ways to incorporate real-life applications in what I teach.