Gary Mayers is about to begin his 47th year of teaching high school mathematics. For the past seven years, he has taught at Spring Valley High School in the Clark County School District. His current assignment includes teaching Geometry Honors and Precalculus Honors. Prior to this, he taught in New York City for 36 years and in Culver City, CA, for three years. During the previous school year, he became a 2011 Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Challenging his students with complex problems while injecting humor into each lesson is Mayer’s favorite method of instruction. Outside the classroom, he is the advisor to Mu Alpha Theta, the mathematics honor society. He coordinates monthly mathematics competitions and organizes fundraising activities for Pi day.
Mayers continues to take a leadership role in curriculum innovation. He has worked on rewriting the precalculus curriculum at the district level, and he is currently pioneering at his school on lesson planning in Honors Geometry to align the course with the Common Core State Standards. Notable pedagogic achievements during his New York tenure include teaching Advanced Placement Calculus for 30 years and teaching both algebra and geometry in a Spanish/English bilingual program for 15 years. Mayers has a BA, cum laude, in Mathematics and an MS in Mathematics Education from Queens College. He has credentials in Nevada, California, and New York.
