Penny

Penny is a second-career educator, earning her clear credential in secondary education after 20+ years of a successful career as an engineering leader in the tech industry. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, and did her graduate work in math education at San Francisco State University. As a child of English and Music teachers, Penny was always the type to tutor her friends throughout her school years, and even as an engineering professional, she always jumped at the chance to lead technical trainings. She has been teaching and tutoring in San Francisco public schools for over 6 years, and has seen multiple students return to thank her for what they’ve learned or to ask for tutoring help years later.  

Penny likes to take standardized tests for fun, and scored a 1550 on the SAT. She earned a 5 on her AP English Literature exam, and is happy to share her enthusiasm for her favorite books with her students. She was on her high school Academic Decathlon team, and took home top honors in her county in 5 of the 10 events (Language and Literature, Speech, Essay, Music, and Math). 

Although she loves everything about language and literature, Penny’s first love was math. At UC Berkeley, she took several extra upper division math classes just for fun, and has always been interested in the intersectionality of math and music and the brain. In addition to the required coursework for her teaching credential, Penny also trained in the Making Math Real framework of multi-sensory math education. She believes knowing the neuroscience of learning and executive function development makes for much more efficient and joyful teaching and learning. She has customized math curriculum in her own classroom in order to make math learning stickier and easier. 

Penny has been tutoring middle and high school students for over 10 years, and really loves working one-on-one with students. She delights in finding common interests with students and finding ways to weave those interests into lessons. She brings genuine enthusiasm and humor to every session, and her students have responded with increased test scores and lowered stress levels. As a mom of two kids with ADHD, she has learned both creativity and patience when helping with homework or exam prep, and has developed a deep empathy for parents who have kids with learning differences.