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“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” — William Butler Yeats Meet Rosa Perez and Her Geometry Students
Many students figure they will go to their graves hating math. Central High School geometry teacher Rosa
Perez wants to change that. From the second students step into her classroom, she surrounds them with angles, shapes, and formulas with an enthusiasm that is hard to escape. "She's a math fanatic," one student says, "and I love her for it!"
When reviewing the previous night's homework, Perez works hard to draw in every student. Her questions and the students' answers fly back and forth. When introducing a new unit, Perez demands that students read the introduction in the textbook and stop at the end of each paragraph to write down what they think it says, jotting down the words that are strange to them.
Geometric concepts cover the walls. Student work—tetrahedrons made of paper, prototypes of inventive cereal boxes, the products of the latest class project—hang everywhere.
"Tune out for a minute in her class," explains another student, "and you'll miss something important."
Students have spent the first ten minutes of class completing the day's "Do Now."
Perez: Okay, let's see what you all came up with. What do we call this angle?
Perez and her students continue solving the day's warm up.
Then they turn to last night's homework. She writes one of
the homework problems on the blackboard.
Perez: Let's start with the first problem. So what is the
measure of the ∠BQC?
Perez and her students go through the rest of the homework. She then hands out today's assignment.
Perez: I know I say this to you all the time, but please remember that when you're drawing the figures, don't be cheap with the paper. Draw them as big as you can!
The students start the assignment, either alone or in pairs. Perez moves around the classroom, answering questions and checking in with students to see how they are doing. As the bell rings, one student goes to Perez who is now standing at the front of the classroom.
Student: Is this angle 65°?
See cereal box project and how Perez brings writing into her class >>
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Rather than ask less of her students, Perez asks more. Every class begins with a "warm up"—a challenging problem set she hands to students as they enter. Students work quietly and then discuss their answers. 
May 31, 2005
Perez: Right, and why are they the same?