ESP Biography



ZACHARY HANEY, Wheaton sophomore studying Math and Latin to teach



Major: (Applied) Mathematics

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: Not available.

Picture of Zachary Haney

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Having traveled and moved through the United States, I was very fortunate to settle down with my family in Greer, SC. Why? It is were I found my high school. Normally, people look back fondly and talk about their friends and parties. I did make lifelong friends; however, the biggest impact on my life was made by two amazing mathematics teachers that gave me a chance to strive beyond the minimum requirements. They inspired me to reconsider my dislike of math and focus my energies into doing what I've always wanted to do--teach, but it was their inspiration that steered me in the goal of teaching mathematics at the secondary or collegiate level. Growing up with my grandparents, my mother been unable to provide for me, gave me a wonderful educational support system. I am the only one of the graduating high school class to leave the state of South Carolina for educational pursuits. I applied to many schools, but Wheaton somehow grabbed me. Through the Math department's support, I have continued my expansion of knowledge as well as forays into teaching with grading assignments and assisting in courses.

Make sure you check out courses by Nora Räsänen! She's a blast and really knows her stuff.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

H3996: Latin: The Direct Method in Splash! 2010 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2010)
"Arma virumque cano!" - I sing of war and a man! The Aeneid By employing the Direct Method (also called the Natural Method) of Hans Oerberg's Lingua Latina, we will embark on the study of Latin. By using this method, we will see that one does not have to use English to understand Latin (nor any other foreign language!). By the end, we will have the opportunity to discuss later Latin and how to go about studying this language that lasted for almost 2,000 years (and developed into our modern Spanish, French, Italian, etc.)


H3998: Español: Spanish from the Basics in Splash! 2010 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2010)
¡Hola! Would you like to read Don Quixote de la Manca in the original? How about Borges? Garcia Marquez? We will begin with the first words you might want to know and move on to be able to read actual Spanish. The goal I have is that you will see that it is unnecessary to always employ English to learn Spanish. If done well, very little translation will be used to elucidate this concept. By the end of course, we will have you set on the right path to learning a language spoken by over 300 million people (the third most spoken language in the world). ¡Nos vemos pronto!


H4000: Languages: Histories and Inflections in Splash! 2010 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2010)
This class will consist of two parts: 1) a historical view of languages including language families and how we talk about the development of language. (This branch of linguistics is called Historical Linguistics or Philology). We will focus in on the Romance Languages and English. 2) A discussion of what is inflection. A majority of the world's languages are so-called inflected languages. In this class, we will explore what this means and how learning the basic concept of inflection will have you on your way to learning ridiculously inflected languages such as Finnish and Latin to the standards of French and Spanish. Here I hope to bring in examples from as many different languages as possible. I will also try to incorporate a few examples of the International Phonetic Alphabet and how it can be used to read a language that you do not know. Certainly come to this if you are a bilingual or multilingual person. There will be lots of non-English examples, and any outside experience will be very welcome.


H4003: Alternative Lifestyles throughout the Ages in Splash! 2010 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2010)
For ages people have been railing against any form of sexuality other than heterosexual monogamy. With the recent suicides regarding bullying, it is important to understand that sexuality has always been more diverse than simply straight. In this class we'll discuss alternative sexualities, such as gay and lesbian, in various historical contexts, from the philosophies of the Ancient Greeks, to medieval Japanese paintings, to what the Bible REALLY has to say.


M4004: Graph Theory: Dots and Lines! in Splash! 2010 (Nov. 20 - 21, 2010)
Are you one of those people who can't see the forest for the trees? Well! You will be able to with Graph Theory, an extraordinarily accessible advanced theory in math. The graphs here aren't those horrid $$y=x^{2}$$. They will be dots (vertices or nodes) and lines (edges) connecting those vertices. This field, first used by Euler, has had some of the most successful applications in history. The applications range from pure mathematics and computer science to genetics and public transportation. We will study these graphs and their properties, using applications as our motivation. This will mainly be examples of different uses and fun properties with graphs, while posing some questions. There will be some proofs, but this is not a proof-heavy approach.


AP Calculus BC in DELVE (2008)
In covering two semesters worth of college calculus, we will study the ideas that perplexed the greatest minds in history, ...