SUNY Potsdam students Odessa Hoyt and Sara Janus participate in the construction of a large Sierpinski tetrahedron at the Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State Conference.
SUNY Potsdam was well represented at this year’s Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State Conference. Among the 600 attendees were two faculty members, two students and a number of alumni from the College.
Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Blair Madore and Professor of Secondary Education Dr. Peter Brouwer ’86 both attended the AMTNYS Conference, along with two secondary math education students, Odessa Hoyt ’17 and Sara Janus ’17.
Hoyt and Janus were able to attend a number of professional development sessions alongside other college students, K-12 teachers and college faculty members. In particular, they both took part in a session led by AMTNYS President Michael Siuta on how to prepare for interviews. The students were also presented with new graphing calculators from Texas Instruments.
Madore presented a session titled “One of These Things is Not Like the Other,” about attributes and geometry for teachers in grades Pre-K through Grade 6. The presentation was originally developed with math department Chair Dr. Victoria Klawitter and Becky Duprey ’97, a clinical faculty member in the Department of Childhood Education.
One attendee at Dr. Madore’s session was Scott Schaefer ’97 of Honeoye Falls Lima Central School District, who studied history at SUNY Potsdam, went on to earn a Master of Science in Teaching degree in elementary education and is now a Kindergarten teacher. Schaefer said he hoped to deepen his geometrical knowledge, because he is very interested in providing a high quality of math and geometry instruction for his students.
The faculty members were able to connect with a number of alumni at the conference. Jillian Folino ’08 teaches at Indian River High School in Philadelphia, N.Y., and presented a session on her math club, which got its start thanks in part to support from SUNY Potsdam’s math department and a grant from the association’s Dolciani Fund. Kim Loucks ’77 and his wife, Carolyn Hirst-Loucks, of Teaching and Learning Connected, presented an interactive session, “Seriously Fun Mathematics with Dice.” Will Hardin ’03, now a math teacher at Granville Junior/Senior High School, gave two technology-related presentations, “Going Google in a High School Math Classroom,” and “Using Desmos Activities to Engage High School Students.”
In addition, Madore and Brouwer also met with SUNY Potsdam graduates Chelsea Connors ’16, Vivian Fischer Lisi ’11, Maggie Flynn Loney ’05, Alicia Salmon ’14, Jodie Munger Tiernan ’06 and Jeffrey White ’04.
The SUNY Potsdam Department of Mathematics offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The program is based on the belief that students can succeed if they are provided with a supportive environment. For more information, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/AAS/Math.
Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America’s first 50 colleges—and the oldest institution within SUNY. Now in its third century, SUNY Potsdam is distinguished by a legacy of pioneering programs and educational excellence. The College currently enrolls approximately 3,700 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its challenging liberal arts and sciences core, distinction in teacher training and culture of creativity. To learn more, visit www.potsdam.edu.
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