There is an unusual number of new teachers that have been added into the math department at SJHHS.

George Rodriguez, the head of the Math Department said, “A third of the math department has been switched out in the past two years.”

However, these new teachers have been a big help with making our math department run smoother.

They have introduced new ideas and methods of teaching, one being chromebook usage. Rodriguez said, “Ms. Giesbrecht was a technology coordinator at her old school, so she’s coming in with things we can do on the chromebooks.” A lot of Ms. Giesbrecht’s teaching has been centered around using technology to teach math and to improve the way technology is used in the classroom.

Mr. Rodriguez himself has also been using chromebooks. However, due to an insufficient amount of chromebooks in the math building, his class has been using the chromebooks in the library.

Last year, another part of the curriculum changed. The math department has received new textbooks for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II.

These new textbooks have been a huge upgrade from the books we have had over the past few years, which were very outdated and did not include new, easier ways to solve equations. However, the old Precalculus and Calculus books are still in use, which are around ten to fifteen years old.

The new textbooks paired with the chromebooks have both given students increased resources to learn the curriculum that is being given to them.

This shows that kids here at SJHHS are being introduced to new teaching methods every year. Because of this, students are learning different subject in different ways, allowing them to be flexible, which teaches them to be adaptable in all aspects of life.

The new teachers that have been introduced to the SJHHS math department in the past two years have successfully contributed to new and improved methods of teaching, even though the math department is hindered by an insufficient amount resources.

“I think that over the last four to five years–especially over the last two to three–we’ve gotten really good,” said Mr. Rodriguez.