Christopher Kribs, PhD

I view my role in the classroom as organizer and facilitator, engaging students in our common work, leading students to discover important results, choosing helpful examples, and posing questions that model a mathematical and sometimes methodical perspective. Effective teachers inspire students to ask and to answer questions and make conjectures candidly, to propose ideas and seek clarification. Metacognition is key to critical thinking, so teachers must lead students to reflect and analyze their own thinking—and, for students who are also teachers, their own students' thinking. Helping teachers as well as researchers develop professionally involves mentorship through explicit modeling of important habits of mind that keep the big ideas in view.