Ms. Leblanc, a new math teacher at Goffstown High School admits in retrospect, “I was terrible at math in high school.” She fought hard but kept her absence from achieving a good grade in math. Her math teacher in High school noticed the struggle within and helped her learn new strategies in math allowing her to achieve a good grade, she saw what Ms. Leblanc needed and fixed the unending problem. Ms. Leblanc then decided that she would transcribe the same affect her math teacher did and help students in her career get through math like she did, never wanting anyone to go through what she did. The next step she grasped was her achievement of a master’s and bachelor’s degree at Castleton college. Instead of giving up on math, the thing she lacked and hated in High School, she flipped it around and persevered through the hardships with the help of her high school math teacher and strived to do the same for future kids.
Students claim to enjoy the humor of her class, and how it’s serious but keeps a light tone with the humor she adds. On occasion she’ll add a sarcastic flare or joke with students. “She’s funny and able to have a good sense of humor” reflects Lana Casaus, a sophomore at Goffstown high school apart of one of Ms. Leblanc’s Geometry honors classes.
Ms. LeBlanc strives to be a flexible teacher who builds upon the “perseverance, grit, and achievements” of the students. Her class consists of notes, quizzes and the occasional project and test. She thoroughly goes through notes explaining things, cracking a joke every so often to lift the mood making it not so thought heavy when kids’ brains need the break.
Ms. LeBlanc said that her math teacher helped her achieve a better grade in math, never giving up on her. With that she says, “I wanted to have the same effect on students that my math teacher had.” She keeps her class “very lighthearted” as Lana claims because she believes it’s important to make sure students stay engaged but learn at the same time. The in between is important in her mind to maintain a clear education, to understand, and relate to what is being taught.
Ms. Leblanc believes her teaching style is “flexible” attempting to give grace to students and help them learn in the way they need to. When note taking students can use multiple colors to signify different variants of shapes or equations. Students can even use colors on tests, quizzes, homework or projects to make the learning process easier. Projects are creative as she had a project in geometry that used slope and created a town on graph paper. These projects occasionally replace a quiz so students can learn in a different more creative way, enjoying class instead of dreading it. “I usually dislike geometry, but she makes it more bearable” Lana believes.
