ARCHIVED—Terry Thorsen
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Year: 2003 – Province: Nova Scotia
Certificate of Achievement Recipients
School: Cobequid Educational Centre
34 Lorne Street
Truro, Nova Scotia B2N 3K3
Principal: Wayne Barrett
School Telephone: 902-896-5700
School Fax: 902-896-5707
School Email: thorset@staff.ednet.ns.ca
School Website: http://schools.ccrsb.ednet.ns.ca/cec/
Grades/Subjects Taught: Grades 10 and 12/mathematics
Teaching Approach:
Motivates students to become independence, love of the intrinsic beauty of mathematics, the power of problem solving, appreciate the genius of creativity, adopt a strong work ethic, gain ability to be critical and wonder "what if," and make mathematics learning fun and challenging.
Encourages precision, clarity, deduction, induction, generalization and excellent study skills.
Outstanding Achievements:
Mr. Thorsen developed a new "cafeteria style" method of testing and evaluating. By making available three levels of difficulty for each question, he challenges top math students and provides doable problems for others. Students can choose the level of question that matches their understanding of a topic but can still pass at the lowest level.
He also initiated a new mathematics course at the school designed for top level students coming in from grade 9. It ensures that these students have the skills and knowledge to advance to pre-calculus and be successful in science.
Mr. Thorsen pioneered new teaching methods and questions on tests and exams. His ideas have been published in the provincial mathematics journal and have been widely accepted and practiced by his colleagues throughout the province.
He coached and led students to achieve high ranks at both the Cayley and Fermat mathematics contests sponsored by the University of Waterloo. In the past two years, the school has garnered more than 25% of all the certificates of distinction in the province of Nova Scotia.
In Praise Of:
"Terry's abilities and desire to provide the best education possible to our students extends beyond the Mathematics department, as he has also been a leading proponent of a cross-discipline program of enrichment for our school, which is in its formative stages." - Vice-principal
"Mr. Thorsen has sparked an interest and a work ethic within me, both of which have helped me to achieve things that I would have never thought possible." - Former student