By MATTHEW WANG
Newly-hired math teacher Ms. Davidson is excited to embark on a new teaching journey teaching Algebra II as a leave-replacement for Ms. Sinclair.
Prior to working in the Jericho school district, Ms. Davidson taught at a variety of New York City schools and spent a total of 19 years in that system. She spent most of her teaching career at Martin Van Buren High School in Queens Village teaching high school calculus, algebra 2 and precalculus.
Ms. Davidson feels that at Jericho, she is surrounded by such an intelligent community that is extremely kind and generous. She believes that Jericho is such an amazing place to work and she would rather be teaching at Jericho than at any other school system in the country. “I felt that I have been given a golden opportunity, like a dream come true,” she said.
Ms. Davidson realized she had a passion for math when she was in the second grade. Later while studying at Columbia University, one of her professors realized Ms. Davidson’s aptitude and excitement for the field and began to push her to start peer tutoring college-level mathematics. She said, “Once I started tutoring, I realized that my professor actually saw in me what I had not yet seen in myself–that I was a budding young math teacher.”
Ms. Davidson is an avidly devoted baseball fan and is excited to bring that same enthusiasm into the classroom.
Ms. Davidson integrates interesting and interactive activities into her lessons to increase comprehension of each algebraic topic. Junior Matthew M. said, “Ms. Davidson explains everything very thoroughly so I always understand each lesson.”
Ms. Davidson tries to maintain a bright and cheerful attitude during this COVID-19 pandemic. “I always try to focus on what I have rather than what I don’t have or how much life has changed,” she said.
Ms. Davidson grew up in Williston Park, Long Island, and was the youngest of 5 children. She lived right by the train station and her mother used to take her and her siblings to Manhattan to walk around. Ms. Davidson believes that attitude is what pushed her to attend Columbia University for her bachelor’s degree, where she majored in philosophy and minored in mathematics.
Even with new restrictions brought on by the pandemic, Ms. Davidson is finding new ways to incorporate activities into her lesson plans that are engaging and interactive for all of her students.