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Teacher Feature: Tom Harman
Math and fishing help define world
By Rosa Fonseca
Whalesong Staff
Math is definitely
a challenging subject. Even a student like Pat Tyner, who has straight
A’s and manages anxiety by giving himself time enough to take
his math tests, admits math is hard.
For Tom Harman, UAS Math professor, this is not a barrier.
With words of encouragement like, “You know more than you think
you do” and playful quotes like, “Zero is my hero,”
Harman promises his 100 students that math can be fun, good, clean
fun. He said, “I truly believe everybody can learn. Some more
easily than others, but I know I am not wasting my time with anyone.”
In a full classroom, Harman goes about teaching the
four basic operations in Math 054 with delightful patience and sense
of humor. Showing no hurry, Harman draws a boat, twelve fish, a
dock, four members of a stick-figure family with four baskets waiting
for the boat to bring the fish. Then he draws three little fish
in each of the four baskets to illustrate the operation of division,
defining dividend, divisor and quotient.
His willingness to go over examples numerous times has helped Lisa
Ward, who described herself as a student who suffered major math
anxiety, to understand mathematical formulas and concepts that had
completely befuddled her in the past.
“Tom has an incredible ability to explain things
using the most simplified examples, which helped tremendously to
calm my nerves so that I could relax and allow myself to think instead
of panic,” Ward said.
Karen Cummins is another student who suffers from chronic
math anxiety. “Math and I were like oil and water. I didn’t
have a life when I took this class,” Cummins said. “Tom
has confidence in his students, so we gain confidence in ourselves.
He will do whatever it takes to make you understand and for me it
meant a lot. Believe it or not, I enjoyed math.”
Youngest in a family of eight children, Harman started
commercial fishing at the age of 6, when his family spent their
summer in Cook Inlet, Kenai Peninsula. Harman said he hated it at
first but he knows the experience taught him fundamental lessons,
such as his strongest beliefs, respect for nature, and closeness
to the land. “I learned strong work ethics, work hard and have
a return from it,” he said.
Harman fishes in the summer and teaches in the winter.
“At the age of 14 I decided I will never stop fishing. Fishing
is the driving force that brought me into teaching,” he said.
Harman explained the absolutes of working among natural
forces that are much greater than ourselves. “When you are
fishing there are huge forces like tide, wind and waves. Recognizing,
knowing and respecting these forces places us in harmony with nature.
“
He describes the experience of being in nature as humbling
yet empowering. “Seeing yourself as just a speck in the middle
of tundra you realize the power of nature and that you are part
of it. Math is our best attempt to understand the relationships
with nature.”
This is Harman’s first semester as full-time Juneau
faculty. He started in the UA system in 1998. Through University
of Alaska Fairbanks he taught distance classes in Sitka for the
Rural Alaska Science and Math Network, which has the goal to graduate
Alaska Natives in Math and Science fields. Last year, prior to his
full-time hire, he moved to Juneau and taught classes as adjunct
for one year and a half.
Janice Jackson, UAS academic advisor, said Harman has
been very supportive of Native and rural students as well as the
services offered out of the NRSC. Jackson said, “We look forward
to having Tom involved in activities and programs hosted by PITAS
(Preparing Indigenous Teachers for Alaska Schools) and Wooch Een.”
His wife, Michele Harman was recently hired as the new
counselor in the Student Resource Center. Harman is happy that they
are both working in the healthy environment of UAS. And he concluded,
“What I love about teaching in college is that everybody is
in a progressive state of mind.”
Email Rosa Fonseca at jsrmf4@uas.alaska.edu
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