Janice E Takagi

Biography

I was raised in South Dakota and moved to Tucson after graduating from the University of South Dakota.  I originally planned to major in architecture but changed to math education as I realized I was more engineer than artist.  Engineering did not give me the "warm-fuzzy" career I was looking for so I changed to math education. I raised three children in Tucson.  All three went through TUSD schools and two have graduated from the U of A.  The last child is currently a student at the U of A.  

I am passionate about public education and dedicated more than 30 years to teaching high school and college students.  Throughout my 30 years as a math teacher in TUSD I periodically taught at Wilmot State Prison, Pima College and U of A.  Two years ago I was ready to retire from TUSD, but not from my job as an educator.  I have enjoyed the past year being able to use my teaching and mentoring skills in a familiar setting (classroom) but in a completely different system and with a smaller workload.  I look forward to continuing teaching math while also mentoring student teachers and new teachers as they prepare to take my place.

Degrees

• M.A. Secondary Education with an emphasis in Math
• University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
• B.S. Secondary Math Education
• University of South Dakota, Vermilllion, South Dakota, United States