Curious what keeps one of UMW’s 2024 award winning professors motivated and why he avoids both 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. classes? In this month’s faculty spotlight, Elizabeth interviews Dr. Kyle Schultz, Professor of Mathematics Education. Read on to learn about his approach to teaching and his practical advice for new faculty.
This year you were awarded the Graduate Faculty Award! What do you enjoy most about working with the graduate students in your program? What keeps you motivated?
I enjoy my students’ passion and creativity in exploring their wonderings about teaching and learning. My background is in secondary mathematics education, but I work with graduate students from all content areas and grade bands to develop and carry out their research. As a result, I get to learn a lot about other fields of education through my students and their projects. Seeing the challenges they will face as teachers and knowing the rewards of the profession refreshes my sense of purpose and motivates me.
You are also a co-PI on the Noyce grant. For those of us that aren’t familiar with it, how would you describe the Noyce grant and purpose? Do you see an impact of the grant opportunity on your teaching and students?
Our Noyce Grant, DISCOVER, is funded by the National Science Foundation and aims to recruit secondary teachers in STEM fields. Our goal is to get university students majoring in science, mathematics, or computer science to consider a career in teaching and provide informal opportunities for them to experience what it’s like to be a teacher. For students who become DISCOVER Scholars, our grant provides significant financial support ($24,000 during each of their junior and senior years), benefits such as professional memberships and personalized mentoring, and specialized coursework focused on STEM teaching, in return for a commitment to teach in a high-needs school district after graduation. We are currently seeking to connect with UMW and GCC freshmen and sophomores interested in more information about our upcoming cohorts of Scholars.
For me, the grant has provided the opportunity to develop a new course focusing on STEM teachers’ beliefs about the nature of their disciplines and about themselves as teachers. Beliefs form and change over a long time, so giving our Scholars opportunities to reflect upon their beliefs earlier in their licensure program is a great benefit to their professional development.
Is there anything that stands out to you that has prepared you or continues to prepare you most for effective teaching?
Unlike most of my non-COE colleagues across campus, my professional preparation focused on teaching. I was a high school teacher and coach prior to entering academia and learned a lot about effective teaching from my own education coursework and my students. One of the biggest factors that has helped me grow as a teacher is being able to reflect on my practice, experiment, recognize and accept failure, and learn from my mistakes.
Who was your favorite teacher?
I had five teachers, Dr. Bushyager (high school math), Drs. Hill and Kansky (teacher preparation), and Drs. Wilson and Kilpatrick (PhD program) that stood out. The traits they shared were patience, recognizing me as a person first and a student second, and expressing enthusiasm and encouragement when I shared my ideas.
What is your favorite way to start a class?
I like to ask my students how they are doing and if they want to share anything about their day or week. I like to share as well. Building community and trust is important.
8 a.m. class or 4:00 p.m. class?
With two elementary-aged boys, I try to avoid both. Earlier in my career, I would have said 4:00 pm, but I would probably choose 8:00 am now. The earliest class I’ve ever attended or taught was at 8:30 am, taught just this past spring.
What is your favorite UMW class to teach? Why?
I enjoy my undergraduate elementary mathematics courses, MATH 204 and EDUC 305. It is fun and rewarding to watch my students, particularly those who didn’t have good prior experiences with mathematics, discover that math makes sense and develop confidence in their ability to understand and teach it.
What is your dream class to teach?
I’m going to teach a new special topics course this spring focused on equitable teaching and assessment practices. A lot of what we do as teachers comes from practices established a long time ago, during the Industrial Revolution. In this class, we’re going to explore the origins of our current practices and how those practices can undermine the education of students from underrepresented and impoverished communities. Building on these understandings, we will explore ways to improve how we teach and assess so that all students are empowered to learn.
What is one piece of advice you’d give a brand-new faculty member?
Be careful about making commitments. It’s natural to want to fit in and agree to help out, and easy to overextend yourself. As safeguards, never agree to any request on the spot (ask for time to consider it) and keep a list of the people and requests you say “no” to. (Far from burning bridges, you’ll be surprised at how many folks will still seek you out for future collaboration).
What podcast would you currently recommend? (or book/show/etc.)
I like the podcast 99% Invisible. It focuses on essential architectural and design elements that go largely unnoticed. They recently did a 6-part series, Not Built for This, about how our current infrastructure is being challenged by climate change.
If you could take any class in the UMW catalog, what would it be?
I would like to learn more about music theory, maybe MUTH 191. I played bass in a band with friends a long time ago and was self-taught. I relied a lot on memorization and couldn’t improvise much because I didn’t understand how the notes, chords, and scales all fit together. As a music fan, I would like to better understand the compositional elements of the music I like.
What were you like as a student in college?
I was a student athlete as an undergraduate and was fairly disciplined about keeping up with my work. I majored in mathematics and statistics but my favorite courses tended to be in other areas (literature, art, philosophy, economics). This broad range of interests is a big part of why I felt drawn to and feel at home at UMW with its focus on the liberal arts