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Visiting UCLA professor Marty Romero speaks with Lily Mozayeni, first-year undeclared, after clas

When high school math teacher Marty Romero accepted the UCLA math department’s offer to teach classes in Westwood for a year, he thought it would be a lot easier than the 40-hour weeks at Wilson High School in Los Angeles.

But he soon realized his assumption was wrong.

“It’s more work than I thought it would be,” Romero said.

Romero comes to UCLA under the Visiting High School Mathematics Teacher Program, which has brought a Los Angeles-area teacher to the math department for the past 20 years. Teachers take on courses such as pre-calculus and small upper division classes for undergraduate students aspiring to become math instructors.

Despite the workload, Romero maintains that the fundamentals of teaching are the same both in college and in high school.

“College students are just kids, there’s not much difference. I’ve taught kids all my life – it’s no big deal,” Romero said.

Romero added that lecturing to a large class is clearly different from working in small high school classes, but he enjoys speaking in front of the masses of students.

Philip Curtis, a UCLA math professor who came up with the idea for the program, said the department invites an outstanding high school math teacher from the Los Angeles area to participate each year.

Curtis explained that past candidates have come from varying backgrounds; they’ve taught at inner-city and suburban schools.

Curtis said he is proud of the program’s accomplishments.

“It’s been very beneficial to the math department,” Curtis said.

Curtis and Romero both emphasized the program’s ability to establish ties between the high school and college math communities.

“We are interested in getting a network of very good high school teachers established,” Curtis said.

He said past participants are invited back to UCLA each year to take part in a discussion with the math department.

Romero, however, is not at the point where he is merely participating in discussions; he’s actively teaching and adjusting to life at UCLA.

He said he is still acclimating himself to the different environment of teaching college classes.

Though Romero is going through an adjustment period, he said he is looking forward to working with students who want to become teachers and to “giving them the (teaching) bug.”

Lucia Avina, a student in Romero’s math instruction class for aspiring high school math teachers, said Romero’s enthusiasm is inspiring.

Avina, a fourth-year general math student, said she sees a difference in Romero’s high school teaching style.

“(At UCLA), professors do care – well, some of them do – but high school teachers seem to have a different energy,” she said.

Despite the program’s success, budget cuts in the early 1990s suspended the program for three years, Curtis said. He added that current budget issues continue to threaten the program.

“It remains to be seen what will happen next year,” he said