Standardize Teaching Skills between Teachers
A teacher can impact a student’s interests and even impact their entire life. In high school, teaching not only includes informative knowledge; it also involves guiding students to think critically, create original works, and conduct research independently.
In the GS program, we have multiple teachers teaching the same course, each with their own special approach to structuring the class. When comparing them, it is fascinating to see how different teachers have distinct insights and teaching methods.
Approach to AP Calculus BC: Beyond formulas
AP Calculus BC is an advanced-level math course that builds the bridge between high school and higher-level maths. Since it’s an AP class, balancing between understanding concepts and mastering test strategies is important for students to excel in the course.
Erico Silva, a math teacher at GS, shared his perspective on teaching Calculus BC. Erico said, “BC is the first time students have to incorporate a lot of thinking into math, and I really enjoy teaching this course.” On the topic of critical thinking, Travis Ortogero, another math teacher, also offered his insights: “I view math as a lot of problem-solving practice. These kinds of problems push everyone to use what we know in creative or unexpected ways. I try to guide the class toward problems that I find interesting.”
When speaking with Erico about his approaches to Calculus BC, he emphasized the importance of practice. “Math is all about practice,” Erico explained. “It’s like playing an instrument — the more you practice, the better you get.” For Erico, investing time in practicing leads to mastery. This helps students build their foundation on their understanding of formulas and concepts.
On the other hand, Travis views the course through a different perspective. While informing the value of understanding formulas, he pushes his students to think beyond standard methods. “Ultimately, we’re heading towards problems that are never straightforward,” Travis said. “I hope that students can handle challenges and use what they know in creative ways.”
As both Erico and Travis’s student, Jamie Weng ‘26 noted that while Erico emphasizes building a strong foundation through practices; while, Travis’s approach is more forward-thinking, and he likes to assign projects for discovery. Though students might find it challenging to adjust between these two teaching styles, they can learn a lot from both.
Travis and Erico both approach homework and assessments with a focus on practicing and time management. Although Travis admits he’s not a fan of homework, he said, “I understand it as a necessary evil for practice.” To ensure efficiency, he limits homeworks to 45 minutes everyday and emphasizes quality over quantity. He likes to use platforms like Delta Math to provide immediate feedback, allowing students to learn from their mistakes in real time. Sharing the e same insights on the role of homework, Erico, on the other hand, prefers to assign printed AP-style exercises for homeworks.
Speaking of assessments, Travis separates them into formative and summative. He states,“Formative assessments allow students to make mistakes and learn along the way, while summative assessments are meant to measure the mastery of the material”. He believes math assessments are significant because they show whether students truly understand the material enough to apply it in more complex scenarios. “Assessments are supposed to be when I have gotten to the point where I am no longer making mistakes,” Travis explained. Similarly, Erico views exams as a special way of practice, emphasizing that students need this kind of time-pressured exercise to build their problem-solving skills.
Ultimately, both Erico and Travis are driven by a shared goal: to encourage students to engage with math as a way of thinking. While Erico encourages students in solid practice and Travis believes exploration and problem-solving, their potential purpose stays the same. As Travis states, “Math is about critical analytical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity”, he explains, “Because of the world that you’re going to be grow up in have a lot of information thrown at you, you need to be able to critically think about it, problem-solve about it, and creatively synthesize it.”
This broader concept of teaching math goes beyond preparing for standardized tests . It prepares students to thrive in a world with overwhelming information from technology, media, or even AI. As students take time to adapt to switching between Erico’s and Travis’s classes, the combination offers an important foundation for a math student and a future scholar.
Approaches to IB HL Literature: Multiple Perspectives
Compared with AP English courses and other English curriculums, IB involves more analytical and student driven discussion for the preparations for Internal Assessment (IA) and Independent Oral (IO). IB HL Literature focused on open-ended questions pushing students to explore different perspectives and provide textual evidence. The classroom environment is crucial for students to actively share their own perspective.
Adam Wassel, one of the IB HL Literature teachers, shares that he tries to cover a bit of history with each of the texts to make students engage more in classroom discussions. Adam explains, “It helps students to understand a literary text fully. Authors don’t just whip up their ideas out of thin air; their ideas are drawn from the historical context”. Furthermore, I interviewed Adam regarding his book selection process for the class. He states, “I tend to look for older texts that can teach us something about the world we live in today… I try to identify texts that students are unlikely to pick up on their own but wind up glad to have read in the long run.” By carefully making the reading lists, Adam challenged students to engage in deeper discussion on connecting literature and modern society.
While Adam emphasizes the importance of historical context, I also understood how other perspectives shape the selection process for IB HL Literature by speaking with Ariadne Costa, another experienced teacher in the same program. Ariadne emphasized the importance of passion in teaching, “I love literature deeply and I want to share that by helping the students see the complexities of the text and disentangle the layers of meaning”. Ariadne also mentioned that students need to “ investigate the text by themselves”, which is the essential skill that IB HL Literature is looking for. Speaking about the process of book selection, Ariadne explains, “I also want to make sure I teach women writers, and authors from different backgrounds, so students are exposed to an array of perspectives about life”. Ariadne’s approach to book selection shows her passion for literature and her approach to make students learn diverse voices and perspectives.
Ariadne’s current student, Alina Pang’ 26 commented on Ariadne’s teaching approach by stating that “Ariadne provides us a discussion base class. She gives us opportunities to lead the discussion by ourselves and help us to improve on our understanding with the literature piece”.
Both Adam and Ariadne believe that literature courses help students to understand the different lenses of society and culture. Adam notes the importance of critical thinking, “studying literature helps strengthen our ability to think and to focus as fast-paced visual media continues to erode our attention spans.” Ariadne also explains that literature could relate to “students’ life and larger society, offering ways to express complex, abstract ideas and feelings.”
By understanding different teacher’s approaches, it shows that teaching is not only about presenting knowledge but helping students to develop critical thinking and personal growth. From math to literature, these high school courses expose students to diverse perspectives. In general, all teachers in GS help students to prepare for the future world that requires understanding, creativity, and analytical skills.
