Mr. Swanson's Page

I moved to Stanwood right out of Graduate School and have been teaching at Stanwood High School for my entire career.  I have always felt that this is where I belong, even though I did not live here when I was younger.  My family is from the area and both of my parents graduated from Stanwood High School.

I currently live on Camano Island and have two daughters, the oldest of which is a sixth grader, the younger is a third grader.  Both are in the Stanwood-Camano School District.

In addition to teaching math, I also coach wrestling and am on the committee for the local Stanwood-Camano Soap Box Derby.  I feel that it is important to be a part of the community that I live and teach in.  If you see me out and about, feel free to stop and talk to me.

My Philosophy

I believe that math is the cornerstone of many aspects of life and that by excelling in math students are able to do whatever else that they want to do.

I believe that true mastery of a topic does not come instantly, but takes practice.  The learning process involves: working problems, checking answers, making and fixing mistakes, then working more problems until they can be done without really thinking about how to do them.

I believe that in addition to knowing how to work the mathematics in a course, students also need to know how to use the technology available to them to work with and explore mathematical ideas.

Who Am I

Experience

Math Teacher at Stanwood High School

Stanwood, WA, 2004-Present

Math Department Head from 2011 - 2014, 2016 - 2019

I have taught every course offered from low level intervention classes though AP Calculus, AP Statistics, and The Exploration of Advanced Mathematics.

Courses that I have added to Stanwood's Curriculum:
- AP Statistics
- The Exploration of Advanced Mathematics
- Honors Algebra 2
- Honors Pre-Calculus 

Education

Oregon State University

Corvallis, OR, September 1999 - June 2004

 - 2003 Graduated with a BS in Mathematics (with Honors) 

 - 2004 Graduated with a Masters in Science in Mathematics Education