AHS Teacher Highlight: Miss Vitale

This is Miss Vitale’s second year as a teacher in Arcadia’s Math Department.  She teaches Geo Trig H and Algebra I.  Arcadia is lucky to have such an energetic, dedicated and passionate teacher in the math department!  In the spring of her first year, she even volunteered to be part of the team that accompanied the AB and BC Calc students to Prescott for a weekend of Calc Camp.  It was three days of tutoring almost 200 students in preparation for the annual AP Calc exam.  She plans to go again this year!  Her education background includes:
·      BA in Secondary Education, Mathematics   ASU

Miss Vitale has always wanted to be a teacher.  When she was younger, she loved helping other students.  She was a math tutor in high school at Desert Mountain and in college at ASU’s Math Tutoring Center. Initially, she planned to earn a degree in engineering (her dad is an Electrical Engineer).  However, after the first year, Miss Vitale realized she should pursue her passion… teaching!.  She truly enjoys working with and helping students learn math.  So, she switched majors, did her student teaching at Saguaro High School, and applied for a job in SUSD.

Students in Miss Vitale’s class look forward to learning through a variety of teaching methods and strategies.  In addition to traditional lectures, review and practice, Miss Vitale helps students master concepts utilizing technology and programs like Kahoot.  She also mixes it up with scavenger hunts, gallery walks, and relay race activities to get the kids up and moving and working with each other.   Miss Vitale gets excited about finding and trying new Project-Based-Learning strategies, realizing that learning can be enhanced when students become actively involved in the learning process.  

FAVORITE THING ABOUT WORKING AT ARCADIA:
The freedom to be yourself.  I can “nerd out” about math all day and be an individual.

HOBBIES OR FAVORITE THINGS TO DO WHEN NOT WORKING
I love to read, go to the gym, listen to music and go to concerts.  I go to a lot of Ska Concerts.

DOG OR CAT?
Dog.  Have never had a pet yet, though.

WHAT MAKES YOU PROUD?
Those light bulb moments when a student “gets something” that was difficult for them.

A RANDOM FACT ABOUT MISS VITALE
I played saxophone in the 2011 New Year's Day Parade in London.

Submitted by Amanda McCauley Spring 2018

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