What inspired you to work for Budapest Semesters in Mathematics Education(BSME)?
This job is a perfect mix of my various interests: math education, teacher training and international studies. I started as the instructor for the pilot Practicum course, then with my colleague Ryota worked out the curriculum for BSME, so I feel like a parent to the program.
Describe a typical day at work.
Every day is different. I do BSME administration every day: organizing the program, assisting participants and instructors, working on publications about the program. I teach the BSME Practicum course once a week, when I usually take BSME participants to Hungarian schools. I also have in person and online meetings with participants, colleagues and people outside the program. Besides BSME, I teach at a secondary school twice a week. In the summer, I spend a week with BSME participants at a Hungarian math camp.
Lunch with BSME participants
What is your favorite part of your job?
I love taking BSME participants to Hungarian schools weekly during the school year, and for a full week of Math camp in the summer. I enjoy giving one on one support to participants and instructors. I like meeting American and international professionals when they visit Budapest or when I travel to meetings and conferences.
What challenges do you often face and how do you overcome them?
The biggest challenge so far was Covid. In 2020 March we needed to send participants home in the middle of the semester, and switch to online instruction in a week, including practice teaching at a Hungarian school.
I was working day and night, but I was inspired by using new methods and finding solutions to new situations. BSME stayed online for one and a half years, and even though it was not a substitute to in person instruction, it worked out both academically and socially. Currently we are happy to be back to in person instruction, but we incorporate what we learned during the online period.
Experience workshop at BSME
What makes BSME special?
BSME is the only study abroad program in Math Education in the world! Our students learn about Hungarian style guided discovery, a unique teaching tradition which aligns well with current American and international trends in math education. Participants often say that experiencing this teaching style is an eye opener which completely changes their view of math education.
What is your organization's mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Our mission is to immerse preservice and inservice mathematics teachers in the Hungarian style guided discovery, whose aim is for students to enjoy math while thinking like mathematicians. BSME participants experience this teaching style through participating in guided discovery tasks in students' shoes and observing it at Hungarian schools and math camps. They practice guided discovery by planning and teaching their own lessons, which helps them adapt this teaching style to their own classroom in the future.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
I am happy to hear participants saying that attending BSME transforms their view of mathematics education, and alumni describing how they use the guided discovery mindset and methodology in their own classrooms. In addition, participants become members of a community treasuring math education, which they find an invaluable resource.
How do you help support participants?
I pay attention to the individual needs of each participant, and try to give them support that fits them best. Having the experience of working with different participants also helps me to tailor the program in a way that fits the most participants.
Activity designed and led by BSME participants at Math camp
Why is it important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
Experiencing another culture helps participants have a more complex view of the world, and support a diversity of students. Getting immersed in a different math education culture enriches their view and methodology of teaching mathematics.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
I believe travel can have different purposes, and all of these are meaningful. I think traveling to Budapest to participate in BSME is a transformational experience from different aspects: an opportunity to grow professionally, culturally and emotionally.
Logifaces workshop at BSME
How is your company handling Covid protocols? What should participants know about your Covid readiness? How are you assisting participants with navigating the new travel landscape?
We tailor Covid protocols to the actual Covid situation, current ones are always posted on our website, and communicated to participants, parents and home schools. BSME participants have been cooperating with Covid protocols in an excellent manner, and fortunately none of them got Covid in Budapest so far.
