Dee Martin

I graduated from Barnard College with a B.A. in architecture & art history, after which I crossed the street to enter the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning. After earning a Masters of Architecture and completing the requisite internship, as a R.A. and licensed architect of New York State I began my own practice in New York City. My firm specialized in residential design and apartment renovations, and was unique at the time for the including in the services the completion of a project all the way through the construction phase. During its several decades of existence, my company was published and recognized for its success and as Manhattan’s Best Bet for a one-shop design & build company of high design, great value, and 100% client satisfaction. However, the events of 9/11 tapped within me a quiet desire of serving others through teaching and, shortly thereafter, I focused on the task of getting a “big ship to turn” and closed my office after 25+ years of business. After receiving my Masters in education and earning my teacher's license, I entered the classroom in 2003 and have never looked back. I have taught mathematics, architecture, civics, and fine arts to diverse populations of middle school students in my years as a teacher. Additionally, my teaching has recently included CCNY Graduate Dept. of Mathematics Education where I authored and taught a course titled “Enriching the Teaching of Mathematics” to middle and high school teachers. Specifically, my teaching of 6th grade mathematics has been focused with an empirical career lens as an architect crystallizing in a unique methodology of teaching mathematics through project-rich lessons of real-life applications. The project learning enlivens the subject content beyond the abstraction of algorithms and definitions while, at once, reinforcing problem-solving skills and visual literacy. Perhaps though, of utmost significance is developing in students a deep understanding of math as a rich pattern language, an enthusiastic appreciation of its precision, and a ready facility for its usage as a tool. My effort in class in to incrementally build a genuine ownership of foundational mathematical concepts that sets a solid base for algebra and beyond. I am thrilled that my personal trek has brought me back to the Columbia University aegis and Upper Westside neighborhood as a teacher of public school students in a synergistic partnership. On a concluding and minor biographical note, I have completed three NYC marathons with a PB of 3:31, am an occasional squash player, and an avid cyclist.