Jessie Ostrander has a teaching philosophy that may seem counterintuitive for a math teacher. 

 

“Math is not as important as I thought it was,” the first-year Grimsley teacher said. “I’ve learned a lot more about how there are so many different kinds of students in my classroom.”

 

Ms. Ostrander has realized that some students will never love math or use it all the time, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be successful in life. 

 

“There are so many different kinds of success and ways to be successful, and that is just one tool in one kind of success,” she said.

 

Ms. Ostrander is new to Grimsley; in fact, she is new to teaching. This is her first year ever teaching. She had previously worked in IT after majoring in computer science at college.

 

“I just got tired of working a 9 to 5 job where I sat at a computer, and I didn’t talk to people, and I worked from home most of the time,” she said.

 

Ms. Ostrander had wanted to be a teacher ever since she was 12 years old. 

 

Ms. Ostrander remembers being in middle school and thinking, “If I was a math teacher, I would do things this way…I’ve just always had that thought in my head, that I want to be a math teacher and I want to teach things this way.” 

 

While she may have had a clear idea of how she wanted to teach when she was 12 years old, Ms. Ostrander still struggled this fall finding her teaching style. 

 

“I want to get to the end of the year and have a really good idea how to set up my next school year,” she said. “Every day is a learning opportunity, and each time I teach something, it is the first time I’m teaching this. I’m kind of trying out a bunch of different things.”

 

Though there have been many challenges in the transition, Ms. Ostrander has found unexpected joys along the way. She enjoys the conversations she has with students, learning about their interests and the ways they learn. 

 

“Finding something that I could talk to the student about that has nothing to do with math, it’s just so great to get to know people as people,” she said. “That makes it easier then to be a teacher when you have that kind of relationship built on human interaction.” 

 

“I’ve always known at least in theory that what works for one person doesn’t work for everybody, but knowing that and knowing it because you’ve experienced it and seen it are very different.”

 

These student interactions have really changed Ms. Ostrander’s perspective on teaching. She is implementing this philosophy not just in her teaching style, but even in her classroom itself.  By adding lamps, posters and other decorative touches, Ms. Ostrander hopes to create a better learning environment for her students. 

 

“I don’t want people to come in here and immediately have their mindset affected before they even have to do math,” she said. “I honestly think that having just a little bit of a different lighting and cozy touches here and there can completely reset your mind and the way you feel about a math class the moment you step into the door.”

 

Ms. Ostrander has noticed that since she made the changes to her room, her students have been more present and engaged in class. Whether it is how to structure her lesson plan or how to decorate her room, Ms. Ostrander always keeps her students at the forefront of her mind. 

 

“They’re people who have so much going on outside of their classes,” she said. “And there’s something I can do as their teacher to help support them through that, no matter what kind of thing they’re going through.”