First Flight Middle School math teacher honored

First Flight Middle School eighth grade math teacher Tom Haske is Dare County Schools 2012 Outstanding Secondary School Mathematics Teacher of the Year. The statewide recognition through the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics is sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Most of Haske’s 22 years as an educator were spent in Brazil and Southeast Asia.  He is in his fourth year teaching in Dare County.

His post-secondary experiences include an undergraduate degree in business administration for Wake Forest University, a certification in secondary mathematics from Dowling College and a master’s in Natural Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Since 2004 he’s been an in-demand presenter for professional development workshops on constructing mathematical models using Geometer’s Sketchpad, most recently for Dare County Schools June 2012 Dare to Share Summer Technology Institute. He is also FFMS’ head soccer coach.

Even before “21st Century teaching and learning” became a standard catchphrase in education, Tom Haske had the foresight to approach instruction by providing tools for and challenging students to emerge as critical thinkers, and to have a deeper, fuller understanding of key concepts. By being firmly grounded in the material, students can then go beyond what they’ve learned to conceive ideas of their own –individually and collaboratively. 

“Allowing students the opportunity to develop an understanding of how the values within an equation affect the function, and giving them the opportunity to actually see and connect these changes to movement, lends a deeper and more meaningful approach to the subject,” notes Haske.

His students rose to Haske’s expectations last spring after experiencing the Regional Math Tournament at Chowan for the first time in 2011.

“When attending that competition in 2011, we came away from the event feeling that while we participated, we certainly weren’t competitive,” Haske said. H

In the spring of 2012. FFMS students were impressive in their performance in geometry, with an eighth grader taking the individual second-place award; with two other classmates coming in at fifth and eighth overall, FFMS won the top team award in Geometry.

At the State Regional Math Contest at Elizabeth City State University, an FFMS eighth grader won the individual first place in Algebra 1. Together with five classmates, FFMS took six of the top 10 spots in the category, and the overall team first place. Haske and Maria Wise are the upper level math teachers at First Flight Middle School.

As Dare County’s Outstanding Secondary Mathematics Teacher, Haske can look forward to receiving a one year’s membership in the NCCTM, a personalized award, and recognition at the State Conference in Greensboro; his name will be listed in the Fall 2012 issue of the NCCTM journal “The Centroid” and on NCCTM’s website.

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