It's a tremendous honor to be included in a fellowship that includes such distinguished colleagues and friends, from whom I've learned so much about teaching, curriculum, and learning. But even more than the honor, I'm excited for the opportunity PAEMST creates to learn from and with other awardees. I'm more aware than ever of how much I need to grow as a teacher-leader, and I look forward to bringing new ideas, strategies, and ways of thinking back to my classroom, school, and city.
Since 2000, Paul Karafiol has taught mathematics at Walter Payton College Prep High School, a Chicago public school. He became the Mathematics Department Chair in 2009. Previously, he taught mathematics at Providence-St. Mel School on Chicago’s west side. Paul has also taught in summer programs for talented high school students at the University of Chicago, at Amherst College, and in Toulouse, France. In 1995, he was a teaching fellow at Phillips Academy, Andover.
As a teacher, Paul focuses on challenging all students and bringing out their love of problem solving, using technology to represent problems in different ways. He coaches Payton’s Math Team and the Chicago-Area All-Star Math Team. He was the founding sponsor of the Gay-Straight Alliance and created the PALS peer leadership program.
Paul has presented at local and national conferences on curriculum, technology, and learning. He is co-author of two textbooks for the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project: Advanced Algebra and Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry (third editions). He is also head author for the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) competition.
Paul has an A.B. in Philosophy from Harvard College and studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Chicago, receiving an A.M. in Philosophy.
- High-resolution version of the official portrait photograph
- Awardee holding Presidential citation between the Director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Subra Suresh and the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. John P. Holdren
- High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph
