New mathematics teacher Daniela Herr recently took over teaching five freshman and sophomore geometry sections. After joining the Townsend Harris faculty last month, she spoke to The Classic about her goals and experiences as a teacher.
In describing her teaching philosophy, Ms. Herr said she wants her class to make an impact beyond the content she teaches. “I want students to feel like they can ask questions, make mistakes, and still be respected. I don’t just want them to remember geometry formulas; I want them to remember how they felt in my classroom,” she said.
With these goals has come the challenge of starting as a teacher in the middle of a school year.
“Coming in mid-year was definitely intimidating. There wasn’t really time to ease in, I had to hit the ground running. That part made me nervous. But I also saw it as a challenge,” Ms. Herr said.
Similarly, Assistant Principal of STEM Abid Choudhury described the pressure behind finding a new teacher in a short timespan “Hiring mid-year always comes with challenges- balancing the search for a quality candidate with the urgency to complete that search is not easy.”
Despite the stress of coming in the middle of the school year, Mr. Choudhury said Ms. Herr “has been great to work with thus far. She is communicative, prepared, and professional. It is not easy to pick up classes in the middle of the year in a completely new environment, but she has done so very well.”
Mr. Choudhury also said he is looking forward to seeing Ms. Herr’s progress at THHS.“Ms. Herr strongly aligned with the vision of what I believe good math instruction should look like. She has a wonderful outlook on what it means to educate our children,” he said.
Initially, Ms. Herr didn’t plan on becoming a teacher, and was an engineering major for three years. However, while tutoring students during the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized her love for helping students understand something they thought was difficult. “Watching when frustration turned into confidence was the best feeling,” said Ms. Herr.
Before Ms. Herr’s arrival, students had mixed expectations for having a new teacher midway through the year. Freshman Aminah Ahmad said, “I was looking forward to having a fresh start in geometry, but was also a bit worried about how the new teacher would be.”
After about a month in her class, students shared positive reviews.
Freshman Rosemary Ho said, “I’m learning pretty quickly. My experience so far has been good, and I think [Ms. Herr] should keep up the good work.”
Freshman Derrick Lin said, “Her teaching style is effective. She took the time to know our preferences, for example if we liked doing stuff on paper or on a device.”
“Ms. Herr explains her lessons in multiple different ways to make sure we understand while also leaving time for independent and group work, ” said Aminah. “She engages with us and actually seems interested in how we’re doing. I feel like I’m actually learning in geometry class.”
“[Ms. Herr and I] bounce ideas off each other so we’re able to collaborate, which is really nice,” said mathematics teacher Dina Inoyatov. “I love that Ms. Herr is open to new ideas and also is really eager to share her own.”
“I saw Townsend as a new challenge, one that would push me to grow. It felt like a place where I wouldn’t just be teaching, [but] growing alongside my students,” said Ms. Herr
