Cindy Schmalzried

Here I sit, with the younger of my two daughters-Jamie, 6-at Swarthmore College, from which I graduated in 1976. My older daughter-Megan, 11-is home (also in Swarthmore) with a broken leg, keeping cool. I currently teach at nearby Friends' Central School, in the math department. I teach a variety of math classes, from 7th through 12th grade, and I am coordinator of the math curriculum for 5th-12th. I began my teaching career at Germantown Friends School, in Philadelphia, and I have also taught at Swarthmore High School, Bryn Mawr College, and Swarthmore College. For five summers in the late '80s, I co-directed a program in math and science enrichment for "average" ability students from both city and suburban schools. This program, called AIMS, was held at Swarthmore College and brought together 9th graders, public-school teachers, Swarthmore College students, and Swarthmore College professors. I think of it as my best work to date.

I consider myself a mathematician, having received my masters' degree in math from Bryn Mawr College and having published two little papers in combinatorics. Teaching is my life, however, and I expect to be at Friends' Central until my little one graduates. I am fortunate to be in a supportive department with open-minded and up-to-date colleagues.

During the years of baby-raising, I worked on several projects to develop materials for use in math classes. The best-known of these is the Visual Geometry Project, also based here at Swarthmore College. This NSF project produced the software program "Geometer's Sketchpad" and the videos and activity kits titled "The Stella Octangula" and "The Platonic Solids."

I have been involved in teacher workshops for a long time. I began with work in the Education Program here at Swarthmore, training preservice teachers in mathematics and computer education curriculum and methods. Since publication of the Visual Geometry materials, I've given workshops in Geometry at NCTM and at the Exeter conference. This is something I like to do but have little time for anymore.

At school, we use the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project textbooks for all pre-precalculus courses; we are involved in pilot projects with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics for precalculus and calculus. I teach advanced-placement calculus, AB and BC. All students from 9th grade on use graphing calculators. Cooperative learning, writing in mathematics, computer labs, and portfolio assessment are all things we are tinkering with. It is a happening place!

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