Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Hello! My name is Cindy Rochester-Gefre, and I'll be your instructor for this course. I've taught this course Face to Face, Hybrid and Remote for the past 15 years. Each time I teach it, I learn something new.   A little about me. How did I become qualified to teach math at PCC? My education started when I was in high school.  I was raised in a small logging town in Alaska. I had the chance to work with elementary teachers to help students in math. I completed my undergraduate at Western Oregon State in Monmouth Oregon back in 1989.  I started teaching high school in 1990 and started my Masters at Portland State University and completed it in 1998.  Seventeen years ago I started taking night classes right here at PCC at the same time teaching during the day at Clackamas High School.  During this time I married and  had two children, so you can imagine how hectic that time was!  Last year after teaching 33 years  at the high school level I retired.   I decided to continue working at PCC because I still LOVE teaching.  

My philosophy of teaching is that I'm a facilitator.  I believe this quote from Benjamin Franklin "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." 

I am  excited to teach Fall term!   I am very organized and I created the course so that I provide all the tools need so that you do not have to purchase anything after you pay tuition. I arranged the course as a  modular design. Each week, students should complete all assignments listed in that week's lesson module. These modules are available by clicking "Content" on the course navigation bar in D2L. 

Due dates for each week's assignments will be listed within the module itself and all out of class homework assignments will be due every Sunday at 11:59pm leaving no guesswork. Assignments within the modules may direct students to use many of the tools contained in Brightspace, including Assignments, Discussions, or Quizzes.  In addition you will need to go to Myopenmath to complete homework assignments.  These tools will be accessible from within the weekly content modules, and the Coursework drop-down menu on the course navigation bar.

I  know grades are very stressful for students.  Here is my philosophy around grades. Your grade reflects the level of proficiency in the course. As an Instructor I  enter the grades students earn into the gradebook for each assignment, quiz, and/or exam.  Your  grade is  calculated as  a score or percentage based on what you earn  out of the number of points possible.  However I don't believe that one grade should destroy your grade.  I have a twist on how I do proficiency grades.  Most students appreciate how I deal with proficiency grading so that your grade reflects the level of proficiency you have on the topics covered. 

All software will be provided the first week of the term.   You should have a webcam and microphone because exams will be done in a remote setting.  We will discuss the first week.  

We are in this together so I assist you in getting everything you need for the course.