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“Every day is its own adventure.”
That’s the favorite motto of Rachel Harders; and it came to life recently when she was named SMCC’s 2007 Outstanding Adjunct at the MCCCD Adjunct Faculty Association Spring Conference.
“This award was totally unexpected,” she says. “Since a very large portion of classes are taught by adjunct faculty, it is really an honor.” She adds that the award represents the hard work and dedication of all SMCC adjunct faculty members.
Spring 2007 is Rachel’s fourth semester teaching plane trigonometry (MAT 182) at SMCC. This semester she is teaching two “trig” classes and Mathematics of Elementary School Teachers, Part 2 (MAT 157). She has also taught MAT 102. This summer, she plans to teach for the ACE Program. In addition, Rachel works in the Honors office two days a week.
“SMCC is delighted to have the opportunity to recognize one of our many, many dedicated and talented adjunct faculty members,” notes Dr. Linda Lujan, Vice President of Academic Affairs. “The challenge lies in recognizing only one when so many of our adjunct faculty members consistently and quietly exceed our expectations in and out of the classroom. I salute them all for the work they do for and with our students."
Rachel, a retired junior high school teacher from Illinois, has made trigonometry a ‘hands-on’ course. “From coming to class with individual triangles made to allow students to explore trig relationships to her latest ‘spaghetti graph’ to developing the sine curve from the unit circle, Rachel goes far and above the traditional adjunct teaching style to engage her students,” her nomination paper reads.
The nomination continues, “Frequently, Rachel is found conducting ‘office hours’ in the Tutoring Center – not only for her own students but helping out any math student as needed. Her MAT102 class was amazing – (she) incorporates every strand of the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Standards into one lesson. Proportion, graphing, geometry, measurement, probability and statistics – all done with M&Ms!
“To supplement classwork in MAT102, she ran a paper- folding class to demonstrate some solid geometrical figures. She came to SMCC with a wealth of materials from her junior high teaching days and has willingly shared materials that are appropriate for MAT156 as well as for the trig class.”
This outstanding adjunct taught at nearby C.J. Jorgenson for more than two years, followed by teaching at the community college level.