Today we’d like to introduce you to Montse Torres.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Montse. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a teacher. My first attempt to recruit students, was with my young sister. I guess sharing a bedroom was more than she could handle, so I never captured her attention. My second attempt was my mom, and she was a very disciplined student. I loved having her in my “classroom” because she worked hard in our English classes, and believed I was the best teacher in the world.
I taught my first paid class when I was nine years old. We had just returned to Mexico after living in Houston, TX, for almost four years, and my classmates’ parents requested English classes for their children. My mom and dad were very supportive of the idea, so they helped me put together my lessons with old material from my mom’s former English courses. I had about 11 students, which included a few cousins and neighbors, which they believed I had potential as a teacher.
My Christmas gifts, year after year, were blackboards, chalk, and cash registers. After I moved to another school, I was my only student. I used a wall in our backyard to hang my blackboard and teach myself the material for my school exams. When I graduated from junior high, I transferred to Monterrey Institute of Technology which is a very expensive private high school and university. My dad couldn’t afford the full tuition for his three children, so I had to apply for a work study scholarship.
I was assigned to the Math Department, which was exactly what I needed since I had very low grades in Math during the first month of my freshman year. I used to my workplace to my advantage, and at the beginning of each semester, I introduced myself to the best Math teacher for the course. I requested copies of her assignments and test reviews to study every Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. – 3 a.m. to catch-up. I did this every year of high school, and I came up with my own strategies to solve Math problems.
When my grades were coming up, my friends asked me to organize study groups at my house. It’s incredibly difficult to keep your friends quiet and working 100% of the time. They focused on eating, talking about our crushes, and playing heartbreaking ballads on tapes. Despite the challenging crowd, we managed to study and I learnt to teach concepts in different ways.
I got married in 2000, and we moved to Evanston, Il because my husband was going to pursue his MBA at Northwestern University. We found out we were pregnant a few days after I had accepted a job offer at a radioactive consulting firm. To protect the baby, I turned down the job offer and applied for a job in the Co-Op Department at Northwestern. My boss, Ellen Worsdall found out I was a Chemical Engineer with a M.S. Environmental Engineering, and asked me to teach a five week Chemistry course to the incoming freshman. My dream of being a formal teacher had come true!
We moved back to Monterrey, Mexico after my husband’s graduation. I wanted a part-time job, so I applied for a position as a Math high school teacher at my Alma mater. I taught juniors and seniors, and I have fond memories with my students. I stay in touch with at least 40 of them. They’re in their early 30’s, many are married, with children of their own, successful careers, and full of plans for the years to come.
When we moved to Houston, I worked as an interpreter for the Department of Special Education in the Katy ISD. I realized that being an educator would be my job for most of my life. In 2013, I began tutoring my friends’ children, and, one by one, my classroom grew.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Although I enjoy my job immensely, it hasn’t been a smooth road. As an educator it’s merely impossible to ignore your students’ personal issues and learning challenges. The rapport I have with them allows me to know how they feel about their social life, school environment, interests, transition to the next developmental phase, and family issues. I often go to bed thinking of a particular student and how to create a safe environment for him/her in my classroom.
Some students consider me a mentor, and that’s a role I take seriously. I’m aware of the impact I can have in their rest of their lives. I have to observe the dynamics around them, their personalities, and their vulnerability; It’s a constant assessment of the choice of words and actions so I can make a point across.
This pandemic has stricken my students in many ways. I find that the high school age students have been affected the most; between cancelled and postponed standardized tests, lack of interaction with their peers, as well as a deficient time management skill, they’re struggling to keep focused and motivated. It’s heartbreaking to hear that they’re struggling to stay on track with the requirements to pursue their dreams in college.
Simplex Math – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
One of my students, Nicolas Valencia (who is currently pursuing a Music major), introduced me to Ysabel Dacosta and Teresa Garay from Inf4College (a college coaching center). We discussed the need for a SAT/ACT Preparation course tailored to the needs of immigrant students from Latin America. My private students had requested a similar program, so I designed a year-long SAT/ACT preparation course.
We tend to measure a student’s intelligence by his/her ability to do Math. I don’t support the paradigm, but our society is coded that way. If a student’s parent is a successful engineer or business person, the student believes that he/she has to exceed his/her parent’s accomplishments and ability to work with numbers.
I’m very proud of my company because its mission is to make Math simple and help students believe in themselves to learn Math and change their lives in many ways. The focus is to help a student trust what they know and use his/her skills in their everyday life and not only in their school assignments. As they learn to do so, they choose career paths that they formerly believed were exclusive to certain students. For example, five of my first high school class said they chose an engineering major after taking my class. Another student sent me a message 2 years ago, letting me know that she had moved to Australia. She remembered my classroom speeches and one in particular where I had said that they should work on projects that made them happy. She chased a job position that could take her around the world because that was her life dream, and she wanted to thank me for the encouragement years ago.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Under this pandemic, I’ve had to make adjustments in the way I teach, beginning with having to work online. It was difficult at the beginning because I thought I would lose the connection I had with my students. To my surprise, I’ve actually become closer with many of them.
I’ve always been passionate about pedagogy, and I’m working on staying up to date on the research of the impact of the isolation that we’ve been forced to go through. I’m focusing on understanding the roots of procrastination, anxiety, and depression in preteens and teenagers. Math is a subject that triggers all of these conditions, and even if the education system goes through some reforms, I don’t think it will be soon enough. My future goal is to incorporate study habits in my lessons, so my students can train themselves to be independent learners for the rest of their lives.
Contact Info:
- Address: 612 S. Peek Rd.
Katy, TX 77450 - Website: www.simplexmath.com
- Phone: 2817777024
- Email: info@simplexmath.com
Image Credit:
SPCCreative
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