Ms. Holloway was born and raised in Italy and moved to the U.S. to attend University of California, Santa Cruz. At UCSC she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and was only one class away from a double major with Economics. After completing her undergraduate work, she obtained a Master of Arts in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Science in Mathematics from California State University East Bay. Ms. Holloway was a dedicated student and graduated with Honors for all of her coursework.
As a Subject Expert Teacher in Mathematics and Economics her primary goal is to foster critical thinking in all of her students. Through her lessons, she will help them discover the intrinsic beauty, logical cogency and interconnectedness of mathematical ideas and topics. Together they will explore strategies and she will support her students to discover results for themselves. All of these strategies help them acquire the necessary self-confidence needed for them to understand that they can successfully handle arguably the single most difficult subject of human study: Mathematics. Ms. Holloway feels that where there is high risk, there is high reward; and that by learning to understand mathematics her students will feel very satisfied.
She feels a connection to the BASIS Independent curriculum as we are well known for access to and appreciation of STEM subjects, and she appreciates the rigor with which such disciplines are taught. Incredibly high level math courses are available to students in high school, which is unusual in many secondary schools, but very exciting for her. Math is truly a passion of hers, and sharing that passion with others if very fulfilling. It is very important to Ms. Holloway that she makes math interesting as well as makes it seem possible in the eyes of the student as opposed to dauntingly difficult. Finally she strives to dismantle the unfounded myth that there are Math people and non-Math people out there.
Ms. Holloway relies on many strategies in the classroom to keep her students engaged.
She always stresses the logical connections between mathematical ideas, and tailors the examples in her lectures to the specific interests of her students to ground them in their daily life experiences. To make math relevant, she draws from her own past work experience to create/find problems that mirror the types of situations that might realistically arise in a lot of jobs, and that require problem-solving, analytical, logical, and decision-making skills. All of these elements are precisely the skills that Math is so perfect at developing in the first place. Finally, Ms. Holloway tries to make her students see how intrinsically beautiful Math is, because, if students can see Math as an end in itself and not simply as a means to an end, they will hopefully develop a passion for it which will further motivate them to want to learn it.
Ms. Holloway is an active teacher in the classroom, and understands intently that different students learn differently. She always make an effort to get to know my students well on a personal level, so she can tailor her instruction to their individual needs, and thus maximize her effectiveness as a teacher. She lectures using a tablet and an apple pencil while projecting notes to the students rather than using a whiteboard, which allows her the freedom to move around the class and face her students at all times. Ms. Holloway asks lots of questions, and gives plenty of independent practice activities, that they can work on either in groups or individually. When proving results rigorously, she will often ask for students’ input on parts of the proof that they can handle on their own.
When not teaching, Ms. Holloway loves to read, go for hikes, go to the opera and the symphony, watch films, and travel. She also likes to program. A fun fact is that she is fluent in five languages: English and Italian (bi-lingual), Spanish, French and German.