About+Me

=Who am I?= My name is Alexis Nast, and I'm working to become a high school math instructor through Seattle University's Master in Teaching program. I love working with and challenging high school students. I believe that anyone can think mathematically, and that math is an amazing and beautiful tool for seeing our world. This philosophy meshes well with that of active learning, since active learning encourages the application of math to real world situations in order to better understand both math and the world. I hope to inspire my students to explore the world through a mathematical lens, just as they explore the world through a literary lens, scientific lens, or historical lens. I believe that by combining the skills taught in each discipline, we gain a deeper understanding of our world.

= Okay, but what does that actually mean? Give me an example... = I did a mathematizng project looking at how a car heats up on a sunny day. I'm really excited about how the project turned out, especially since the data followed such a smooth clearly modeled path! I also use math when:
 * driving (What's my gas mileage? How long until I get there? Can I make it to the next gas station?)
 * knitting (If I have 4 stitches to the inch, how many stitches do I need to go around my head? If I start with 80 stitches and decrease by 1 every row until I run out, how many stitches total do I knit? How much yarn do I need for this project?)
 * reading (If it took me an hour to read the first 60 pages, how long until I finish the book?)
 * cooking (How can I double this recipe? Could I make 2/3 of a batch of cookies?)
 * planning (If I want to go on vacation, how much do I need to save? I have two friends coming over for dinner, how much food should I plan to make?)
 * seeing the sunset (How much later does the sun set on the other side of the Olympic Mountains?)
 * and many other daily activities