About Me

Hi! My name is Emily Duque and I am currently a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, looking to earn my MAT degree in Secondary Mathematics Education in June 2023.
I grew up in Hillsborough, NJ, and attended public school there from K-12. I moved to Pittsburgh in 2017 to go to college and have loved every second of living here since. I am so glad to have found a welcoming community where I live! My favorite parts of Pittsburgh include the many restaurants, breweries, and coffee shops, the different and diverse neighborhoods across the city, and the accessibility to nature - whether that's walking to Frick park from my house or driving under an hour to reach some of PA's state parks like Moraine or Keystone. Now I live in Squirrel Hill with my best friends - my three cats!

I am currently student teaching at Falk Laboratory School - a K-8 school associated with the University of Pittsburgh. I am teaching sections of 7th- and 8th-grade algebra this year and have found a lot of joy in the happiness and challenges of teaching this age group. I consider myself a teacher committed to teaching students how to be thinkers and doers, as well as creating an equitable classroom in which they are all able to achieve. My main motivations as a teacher are:

• Creating a classroom environment where all feel welcome and encouraged to take risks, participate in discussion, and do mathematics!
• Reinforcing numerical fluency and confidence in math skills through algebra topics for those who are struggling with their math identity
• Planning and using lessons that require high levels of thinking and doing for every student by situating them in real-life contexts
• Encouraging girls and students of color to take up space in the math classroom and explore their love of learning!

Personally, my favorite math subjects to teach are pre-algebra and algebra 1. My favorite math to learn about myself includes calculus, differential equations, and abstract algebra. Outside of mathematics, I have a deep love of music, having earned my BA in Music alongside my math degree in my undergraduate studies at Pitt. I enjoy singing with the choir at my church, playing games on my Nintendo Switch, and going on hikes anywhere near a lake, river, or waterfall.