Geometry and pre-algebra teacher Mr. Ferreira hopes to leave his students with a legacy. He wants them to be capable of applying math to their daily lives. “I wanted to go into teaching of some aspect, and teaching math was … a field that had openings,” Ferreira said.

Math greatly contrasts with other subjects. “[In] english, you have students who write essays. So, often, when you grade it, you grade it off of different elements instead of overall, versus in math, it’s just a direct answer,” Ferreira said. “I don’t have to worry about my emotions getting in the way of grading a student.” 

Ferreira believes math plays an important role in life. “Math is applied everyday on, like, finances, work, statistics and stuff like that,” he said. “[For example, at] the grocery store, a lot of times I see people do, ‘Must buy four. Buy four to get it for this deal,’ but if you look at it, it’s not a better deal — it’s actually more expensive.”

Understanding that math can be a challenging subject for many, Ferreira strives to make his lessons clear and easy to learn. “I try to make it approachable. I take it from the student’s point of view, [as] if I was a student and I was going to learn this. I try to use very common language with them, being precise with my math language, but making it common, and to take the book and remove the scariness or the overwhelmingness of the book … so they can understand the concept idea.”

Ferreira hopes that his students are able to make connections to math. “If my students can leave class knowing that math is useful in the real world, and they can apply the information they learned everyday — not that they have to use every single thing in geometry or pre-algebra — that’s all I’m looking for … My desire is to leave behind as a teacher is that students leaving my class everyday and knowing something new, and leaving my class a more well rounded individual.”