Provincial honour for Port Coquitlam math teacher
Trisha Wong (shown in a 2006 photo), a math teacher at Port Coquitlam’s Riverside secondary school, received an award from the BC Association of Mathematics Teachers at a conference last week in Whistler.
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Updated: November 02, 2009 3:59 PM
Being a math teacher isn’t just about numbers. It isn’t simply about making sure kids do their homework and pass their tests. Teaching math is about relationships
At least that’s the philosophy of Riverside secondary school’s Trisha Wong, who received an Outstanding Secondary Teacher Award from the BC Association of Mathematics Teachers at the 48th annual Northwest Mathematics Conference Oct. 22 to 24 in Whistler.
Wong is currently on maternity leave after having a baby boy in May and won’t be returning to school until January but she’s still very interested in her students and the courses she teaches.
Getting the award last weekend was the icing on the cake for Wong.
“I make sure I involve everybody when I’m teaching,” she said.
In fact, she makes a point of asking every student in the room a question over a period of two days and she works with them when they struggle.
“They need to know somebody cares... especially with teaching the topic of math,” Wong said.
“I might not be able to convince them that math is fun but they’ll do their best not to disappoint me.”
She was one of the first teachers at the school to use a tablet computer like a white board to show students how to do problems on an overhead screen. It’s connected to the internet so students can have access to the lessons and videos can be added to enliven curriculum.
Wong’s early adoption of technology made her a leader in the math department and was one of the reasons she was nominated for the award.
But Wong is particularly proud of the way students have responded to her teaching. They feel comfortable coming to her for help and some even eat lunch in her class.
When she had her baby in May, a number of her students showed up in her hospital room with gifts for an impromptu shower.
It’s gratifying, Wong says, to know that the work she puts into her class pays off and the students are keen to show they care, too.
dstrandberg@tricitynews.com
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