Margaret Dever, a mathematics teacher at Marlboro High School in Marlboro, NJ, has been teaching for 37 years. Ms. Dever has worked in the Freehold Regional High School District for her entire career and has served as advisor to the school’s Math Team since 1984. She teaches advanced placement calculus, pre-calculus, and algebra II.
Before official standards existed, Ms. Dever was implementing standards. She is described as a student advocate, a teacher’s teacher, and a supervisor’s dream. She continually finds novel ways to engage students and make learning mathematics interesting and fun. One former student credits Ms. Dever with changing her entire view of calculus. She once dreaded and struggled with it. She now enjoys studying it in college.
Ms. Dever has become a peer leader and coach to new and veteran teachers because she embraces new classroom techniques and new developments in technology. Her infectious energy inspires others to do the same, and she enthusiastically shares ideas and specific lessons.
In 1999 Ms. Dever was named Teacher of the Year for Marlboro High School, and she received an Honorable Mention in 2000 in the USA Today Teacher Team.
Ms. Dever is certified to teach grades seven through twelve mathematics. She has a B.A. in mathematics from the College of St. Elizabeth and an M.A. in mathematics from Rutgers University. Ms. Dever has been an adjunct professor at Middlesex County College since 1970, where she has taught calculus I, calculus II, and pre-calculus.