Judy asks what grade level I'd like to teach. Right now, I am planning on teaching high school. Middle school is arguably more important, because it lays the foundation, but I simply like older teenagers better than adolescents on the whole. Little kids - no.

However, I did just fill out a volunteer interest form that might lead to me coaching a middle school math team. Uh oh.

You see, I'm a math nerd from way, way back. I qualified for the math team in my junior high, which means that theoretically I was one of the top five math students in my grade. I was also the only girl. Long story short, it wasn't a good experience. I felt that the math coach wasn't pleased that a girl had qualified, and the whole affair was rather high-pressure for a silly middle school competition, and at the most important contest of the year, I snapped under the pressure and we didn't make state. (Yes, it was due to my score. Trust me.) Being the sensitive little chickadee that I am, I stupidly decided I wasn't *that* good at math and proceeded to have a mediocre math career in high school, culminating with not even taking calculus my senior year.

This will not happen to any student on my watch. I will be low-key and fair. I may even pull my middle-school math trophies out of my parents' closet and display them in my classroom with geek pride.