Mrs. Lindsey Smith, formerly Ms. Reinheimmer, is in her 7th year of teaching Math at West Po. This year, she is teaching Algebra II Honors. She is from New York, but has only ever taught at West Potomac. She distinguishes herself from other teachers with what she calls “modern classroom,” where students use several technologies to learn at their own pace.

Mrs. Smith’s class is unique in that all of the lessons are on EdPuzzle, a website where teachers can upload videos and make them interactive by adding questions. Mrs. Smith’s lessons are recorded before class. During class, students watch the lessons while filling out a notes sheet. This leaves Mrs. Smith free during class to help individual students without interrupting her lessons. Students learn almost entirely at their own pace. After completing a lesson, students complete a “Mastery check,” basically a quiz, to make sure they understand it. Once they have completed all mastery checks, students are ready to take the unit test.

About her modern classroom, Mrs. Smith says, “My philosophy is really just giving the power to the students, and then being an aid for them along the way.”

While many may think that all teachers are experts in their field, Mrs. Smith struggled in Mathematics when she was in school. Her brother helped her a lot with math, which gave her more confidence as a student and made her feel more independent. It was this feeling that she wanted to pass on to others through teaching. She explained, “I loved that feeling he was giving me, so I wanted to be that kind of teacher for students.”

Mrs. Smith’s teaching format has translated well to distance learning, compared relatively to many other teachers. When asked about distance learning, she said, “As much as I want to be back in person and be able to work with the students, I think it is going well virtually. I think I’ve tried very hard to make it work for the students and be as flexible as possible.”

There are many activities Mrs. Smith likes to do in her free time. She likes to do activities outdoors, such as running and biking. In addition, she likes to work out by doing pilates. Lastly, she likes to spend time with family and friends.

Teaching will always be Mrs. Smith’s life passion. She loves spending her time working with students. She said, “I love teaching. I think it’s a passion that grows each and every year. I get to work with a different group of kids each year, but then I also have some of the same kids from previous years, so I really enjoy watching them grow over the years.”