Shifra Adler
Clinical Assistant Professor, Mathematics
Hometown
Wilton, Maine
What attracted you to Arrupe College?
Arrupe’s social justice mission and commitment to setting our students up for success fill an important need in the post-secondary landscape. I have seen how difficult the transition from high school to college can be for students and am daily impressed by all of the thoughtful ways that Arrupe staff and faculty create an environment where each student gets the support they need to become the college student that they want to be.
Talk a little about the classes you teach.
At Arrupe, I teach many levels of mathematics, from the Fundamentals of Math through Calculus I and Statistics. Through each of these courses the common thread that I examine with students is the variety of ways in which mathematical relationships connect familiar ideas and patterns. I want students to leave my classes seeing how the new concepts that they have learned connect to the world around them and to their prior understanding of mathematics.
What's you favorite part about teaching? and the biggest challenge?
My favorite part about teaching is watching students make mathematics their own. Seeing a student who initially struggled or described themselves as “not a math person” come to see their own strengths and agency in working with math concepts is the most important challenge and the greatest joy for me as a teacher.
Education
Cambridge University (BA), University of Chicago (MA), Northwestern University (MSEd)
Courses Taught
- ACSTA 101 Statistics
- ACMAT 100 Fundamentals of Math
- ACMAT 117 Precalculus I
- ACMAT 118 Precalculus II
- ACMAT 161 Calculus I