Teacher Spotlight - Crystal Varnadore

By communications senior Lila Goldin

Long before math teacher Crystal Varnadore was named PBCCTM Teacher of the Year, five-year-old Mrs. Varnadore sat in her kindergarten class, looking up at her teacher, and wanted to be the one to write on the chalkboard.

“The teacher gets to write on the chalkboard,” Mrs. Varnadore said. “That was really my motivation, and from that point on there was no question that I would grow up to be a teacher.”

Mrs. Varnadore first taught geometry at Roosevelt Middle School. In order to prepare, she “became a student” herself and took home the textbook.

“I was just soaking it in,” Mrs. Varnadore said. “How do you teach proofs? How do you teach the Pythagorean theorem? It was a learning experience for me, so I feel like that gives me a perspective on students who are struggling with it. I’ve been working really hard to be a good student of geometry so that I can be a good teacher of geometry.”

By the time Mrs. Varnadore became a teacher at Dreyfoos, she had been teaching geometry for years and could shift her primary focus from the benchmarks and terminology to the needs of her students.

“There’s a difference between an eighth grader taking geometry and a tenth grader taking geometry,” Mrs. Varnadore said. “I don’t want to leave anyone behind and just assume that everybody loves geometry as much as I do. I want to make it a good experience. If they had a great experience in the past, let’s build on that. If they did not, let’s see if we can resolve that and find opportunities for success.”

Mrs. Varnadore understands that math might not be her students’ favorite subject, but emphasizes to them how important foundational math skills are to success in life. She analogizes math to her experience with cooking, explaining that she doesn’t like to cook, but tries to do a “good job” anyway because she “has to eat and wants it to taste good.”

“Along the same lines (as cooking), some people don’t like math because it’s a lot of work,” she said. “I’m like, ‘you don’t have to like it, but let’s do it (anyway).’ And I hope they appreciate the work ethic that comes from it. If you can do math, then you can do anything.”

Aside from an understanding of geometry and an appreciation for math, Mrs. Varnadore said she hopes students leave her class with greater confidence that they can “do hard things” in general. She remarked that when receiving end-of-year notes from her students, oftentimes they will write messages like “I didn’t like math before, but now I do,” or “I was struggling, and now I feel better about it.”

“That’s what I really hope, not that they can prove the Pythagorean theorem or that they know the difference between isosceles and scalene (triangles), but that their confidence and their open-mindedness about it (math) is enhanced,” she said.

Though one might assume that a math teacher wouldn’t see the impact of their students being artists, Mrs. Varnadore said she not only sees it but encourages it through projects, in-class activities, and more. For instance, asking them to “doodle with a purpose,” like doodling a triangle in such a way to help remember its properties, which draws on many of her students' creativity.

“I’ve done a project instead of an exam at the end of the year, and the projects would lend themselves to the art areas,” Mrs. Varnadore said. “For example, I had a theater student that wrote a one act play involving the Pythagorean theorem, and the play was about a game show. I had made copies of his script, and he got three students (to act), and he was the game show host and presented his play. It was wonderful.”

Another student painted an apple pie on a checkered tablecloth, labelling parts of the circle on the pie. Mrs. Varnadore said she still puts up the painting on her wall whenever talking about circles. In addition to interacting with their art areas, Mrs. Varnadore said one of her favorite parts of teaching at Dreyfoos is witnessing the interpersonal relationships between her students.

“What I like is how we celebrate uniqueness (at Dreyfoos), and we acknowledge that people are different and we don’t assume that’s a scary thing, but it’s rather an exciting thing,” Mrs. Varnadore said. “There’s a lot of support (in the classroom), even with kids saying, ‘let me show you how to do this math problem.’ So I really enjoy working at Dreyfoos, because we can focus on the relationships and the content and we don’t have to worry about drama and discipline problems.”

After a friend asked her to serve on the PBCCTM board, Mrs. Varnadore served as secretary for more than ten years to help support and connect math teachers. As a member of the executive board, she was no longer eligible to be honored as “Teacher of the Year,” but Principal Blake Bennett unknowingly nominated her a few years ago.

“I had to tell her (Ms. Bennett), thank you, but I can’t win, so don’t get your hopes up,” Mrs. Varnadore said.

However, this year, Mrs. Varnadore asked the president of the council if she could step down in order to have the opportunity to be honored as Teacher of the Year. This decision paid off, as she was subsequently awarded the title.

“To me, the honor was having my principal recognize my value and wanting to celebrate me,” Mrs. Varnadore said. “And being able to spotlight a school I love working at and a principal I respect and admire.”