1. What content area are you teaching? Why are you teaching this subject?
I teach math (Algebra II) at Coolidge High School. I have a masters degree in astrophysics, which is basically applied physics, which is basically applied math. And, since the district needed more math teachers than physics teachers, I'm doing math instead.

2. What have you noticed about the students you are teaching this year? Do they have particular problems with reading or writing? What are their strengths?
The biggest reading problem in my class is, hands-down, not reading the directions. They are definitely literate, and we've been working a lot on verbalizing mathematical concepts. Since we don't really use the textbook, they don't have the ability to simply look up and regurgitate definitions straight from the glossary. Instead, I have them express definitions in their own words. We also do a lot of process-writing (writing down the steps that they take to solve a problem).

3. What do you most want to learn in this course?
I'd like to learn how to best tie together math and reading, and to help students who are both confident in math to succeed in reading and those confident in reading to succeed in math.