Missouri S&T undergraduate Katie Harr recently received the Outstanding Mathematics Pre-Service Educator award from the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Harr, a junior in applied mathematics from Dupo, Illinois, is an observer and substitute teacher at Rolla High School and says she didn’t expect to earn the award, but was proud that S&T’s education faculty recommended her for it.
Harr is combining her mathematics degree with a secondary education certificate, while minoring in psychology. But she didn’t start out with a mathematics focus – she switched her major after deciding civil engineering wasn’t in her future.
“I started tutoring math and loved seeing students ‘get it’ and have that click moment, so I decided to get into teaching,” says Harr. “I always loved the application of math, statistics and calculus; I like to see the physical connections they can make rather than theory.”
Growing up in a small town, Harr says she had the same math teacher from 8th grade through her senior year of high school. That teacher helped her see that she could not just succeed in math, but excel.
“I know I still need more practice in teaching rather than mathematics – I’ve learned that teaching K-12 students is very different to teaching my peers,” says Harr. “The mental load is higher. I’ve had students who don’t have dinner to go home to and expecting them to do homework that I assign that night is ridiculous. So being an advocate for my students is always going to be a high priority for me.”
Harr says her dream job is teaching calculus. She also plans to pursue a master’s degree to teach advanced placement and community college courses, where she says student interaction is still at a high level.
“My favorite teaching memory so far is the first time a student called me over for assistance while I was observing in the classroom,” says Harr. “After I was done helping them, they said ‘I knew you could help me understand it’ and I was so happy.”
Harr says that, while the mathematics and education departments have both supported her early teaching career, Dr. Michelle Schwartze in the education department has a special place in her heart.
“I think Dr. Schwartze helped me understand that there are differences to how people learn,” says Harr. “Everyone does it differently and, as a teacher, you have to try and pay attention to that and realize that not everything is about the lesson but letting students grow as people too.”