GionMatthias

I am in my third year of teaching, but this year is my first year at Evanston Township High School, my old high school.  I am very excited to continue my teaching career at ETHS.

In the nineties and the first few years of the turn of century, I was in business, but wanted to start something new that could fill that void I felt.  Teaching became the calling and an Astronomy course at San Jose State University, set me on a course of physics and astronomy education.  I earned my bachelors in Physics. I would have minored in Astronomy, but the program was new and I would have to add another semester to my time at SJSU and that choice would have delayed my teaching certification.  In 2006, I moved back to Chicago and began my masters/teaching certification at National-Louis University.  I received my teaching certificate in Spring of 2007 and was offered a very unique opportunity.

While working on my certification, I volunteered for a wonderful non-profit group called Umoja at Manley Career Academy High School, a Chicago public community high school located on the west side of the city. As a lunch time tutor and leader of the Math and Science Club, students disclosed to me that school offered no physics program.  I confirmed this fact, and began a discussion with the school to start teaching physics.  In the summer of 2007, I was offered a position on Manley’s science staff to begin a physics program.

With one class of physics (and four of Environmental Science), physics education became very successful at Manley and I recruited 150 students to take regular and honors physics for the 2008-2009 school year.  The responses from the students were wonderful and science scores on standardized test rose to their highest in the school’s history.   But, as I have come to believe from working in the Chicago school system that all good programs in CPS must be interfered with by the powers that be, the honors program was eliminated for the 2009-2010 school year. Frustrated by the administration’s logic and actions, this chapter of teaching was prematurely ending.

In the spring of 2009, however, a long time teacher from ETHS told me that he was retiring suggested that I apply to be his replacement, and that spring I was offered the position of Astronomy/Physics teacher beginning in the Fall of 2009.

While I miss the students from my west side school, I am very excited for this next chapter of teaching and giving back to the community that made me who I am today..