I worked as a teaching assistant throughout my graduate school years (which there were seven of!), also taking on a number of private tutoring students during that time. My teaching experience has been in physics and in several areas of mathematics, from algebra through calculus. I've also tutored my own children successfully through math and physics over the years. I enjoy teaching these subjects because students can be helped to excel in them by learning to think in a quantitative way. This skill is important for life in our technological society. The best way to teach goes beyond "picking the right formula to use." Mastery of this type of subject matter comes from being able to ask "what is it I'm trying to accomplish by asking this question? What is the item - that can be quantified - that I need to extract from the problem material at hand?" Then the formula becomes a tool to aid in turning the data into a solution.

My wife and I like to spend time with people, which we do a lot. I do like quiet times by myself, too, especially to read and learn new things. This year I started doing inline skating!