Matthew Insalaco

Previous work experience: Taught at UIC College Prep 

What should students know about your style of teaching?

“I think teaching is collaborative. I think especially math, the way that you get good at math is through getting your hands messy, right — like getting in there trying things out, failing, getting it wrong, going back, double checking your work, figuring out where you lost that negative, figuring out what misconception you’re having about whatever topics in front of you — but I think that idea of that collaboration and that conversation I think is really important. I really believe in this style of like, collaborative — sort of like me and the students partnering together, rather than me just being like the disseminator of knowledge, like us working together to try and logic out this math.” 

What do you hope your students will say about you and your class at the end of the year?

“Ideally, I want them to come out feeling like they learned a lot of math, but also have a lot of joy in the math classroom. It’s gonna be work, right, like it’s gonna be work. Again, like that idea of ‘You’ve got to get your hands dirty,’ so it’s gonna require students to do quite a bit of work at home and in class as well, but I think at the end of the day, I want that to be like a joyous place and a place of discovery.”

What are some interests/hobbies you have outside teaching? 

“Over COVID, I bought myself a sprinter van and then I turned the inside into an RV. There’s a bed, there’s a refrigerator, there’s solar panels, there’s electricity, there’s lights, there’s a heater, there’s a sink, there’s a stove. So this summer, I did 6,500 miles. My girlfriend, my dog and I all went up to the Pacific Northwest and we did five national parks when we’re on this trip. So I love outside nature, camping, hiking, biking and sort of like mountain biking.”