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Kathy Williamson’s Website for Laney College

Kathy Williamson’s Website for Laney College

My Personal Teaching Philosophy

Climbing

Hello and Welcome!

My name is Kathy Williamson and I’m an instructor at Laney College (full time) and previously at City College of San Francisco (part-time).  I wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my life.

I literally have my dream job!  For as long as I can remember, I have always worked in the field of education (from tutoring in High School and College to teaching HS upon graduation) and I have always loved math!  I did my undergraduate work at UC Davis and my graduate work at CSU Hayward (so if any of my students are interested, feel free to ask me about my experiences at either of those Universities!).

At Davis, I majored in Applied Mathematics and German.  I studied abroad for a year (at the University of Goettingen) and worked for one summer in Germany (in Kehl am Rhein).  At CSUH I got my M.S. in Applied Mathematics.

Upon graduation from Davis, I taught math at Berkeley High School for a year.  For four years after that I worked at Laney College as the Instructional Assistant in Mathematics.  After getting my Master’s at Hayward (that’s right – Hayward!  I think I was in the last group that was awarded degrees from CSUH!), I worked at Laney College, UC Berkeley (Fall Freshman Program) and San Francisco City College as a mathematics instructor, before being hired full time at Laney College in Spring 2006 and received tenure Spring 2010! Teaching summer at CCSF was common for me, but after having a lovely kid, I stopped so I could enjoy more time with her!

In my free time, I love to hike and I love to sail and I love to travel.  My lovely daughter’s named Lenora and here are a few pictures of her:

 

IMAG0213  Smiley

Here are some pictures of Lenora at about 1 year old:

2014-08-06 09.09.07   2014-07-17 18.25.51

 

And these are when she was about 2 years old!

2015-05-05 11.17.30     2015-09-12 17.41.59

And when she was 3!  The first below is Lenora and Eva, her cousin.

FullSizeRender FullSizeRender (1)

When she was 4 years old:

And now she is 5 and in Kindergarten!

And now Lenora is 6, in first grade!!  And Eva is in Kindergarten!!

 

My 7-year old crazy girl:

   

 

My 8-year old, 3rd grader, with her dad/my hubby and myself:

 

My 9 year old daughter, with me and my mom and family that we FINALLY got to visit this summer 2022!  We hadn’t seen them since before COVID.  And the little one I’m holding was only 1 day old when we met him last:

 

My family at Disneyland over the winter break and our Halloween Family Outfit:

             

I am also a sailor and have been sailing a TON over the COVID times.  We made the cover of Latitude 38 recently (summer ’21) and here is another sailing photo of my very first ocean race (summer ’21).  You can see my husband holding out the spinnaker of the boat we are on (the spinnaker with the Turtle!):

 

                

 

Another thing I am particularly proud of (though this was in summer 2014) – I made a ring for my incredible husband in the Laney College machine shop with the help of Peter Brown and Louis Quindlen (both of whom are retired now!  Congrats gentlemen!!!):

2013-03-18 16.25.15 2013-03-18 16.26.27  2014-07-14 21.41.07 2014-07-14 22.15.40

 

 

Contact Me:

  • The best way to reach me is by email: kwilliamson@peralta.edu
  • I have a voicemail: (510) 464 – 3180  Leave me a number and I will call you back!

Spring 2023 Class Schedule:

  • Math 210ABCD, 211ABCD and 220ABCDEFG (asynchronous)
  • Math 3A: Calculus I – Hyflex Synchronous on MW 10 am – 12:15 pm (see Canvas for link to join via Zoom OR come to F-203)

Office Hours:

  • Monday and Wednesdays 12:30-1:30 pm and Tuesdays 10:30-12:30 pm in zoom (See Canvas for link)
  • By appointment  – email me to set up a time: kwilliamson@peralta.edu
  • Outside of office hours, please feel free to email me any time of any day!  I check my email about 1,000 times/day…

Math Help!

  • MyOpenMath (MOM) – Various videos on every topic and just about every problem! You can “Message Instructor” or “Post to Forum” within the homework!
  • The Laney College Math Lab
  • Canvas has 24/7 Tutoring available.  You can take advantage of this when in Canvas by clicking on the “Online Tutoring” link on the left side menu
  • Online Videos to Help Learn Math: 
  • Search topics in google – there will be useful results with good key words, ask me if you want help!! 
  • FREE Online Math Calculator (Desmos)
  • Email me and ask me questions: kwilliamson@peralta.edu

Professional Development

The last few years, I have been (and continue to be) focusing on Equity and our first level transfer courses. I have been attending the Black Minds Matter Webinars, recently formed a Math Equity Committee, helped create a STEM Equity Committee (after attending the STEM Equity Academy though Skyline College), am currently looking forward to receiving more Equity training through CORA.  I completed the Teaching Men of Color Course spring 2020 with math colleagues.  In summer 2021 a group of us math folk read the book Grading for Equity and brainstormed ways of implementing some of its ideas.  This summer we read Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by Belle Hooks.  In the fall I read UNgrading by Susan Blum.  I am currently trying to get started in Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn, and I’m trying to reread a couple of books about orchestrating math discussions and designing group work.

At the end of Spring 2022 we learned that our grant proposal aimed at closing equity gaps in Calculus I has been funded, so that work started this fall.  The focus of that grant is on grading aimed to close equity gaps, which all of my courses have and will continue to benefit from.  Additionally, another grant that I have been working on with CSUEB/SFSU/Ohlone that we call the Bay Area Math Collaborative (or BAM-C for short!) also applied for another grant and it was also funded (and now named EMAP = Equitable Math Assessment Project), so I will also keep working with that group to explore alternative approaches to assessment, creating a more active learning opportunities within the classroom, and expanding my knowledge/implementation of technology in the classroom that facilitates learning.  Our goals remain to help students (especially underserved students) complete the calculus pathway, reduce equity gaps and to produce equitable grading outcomes for our students.