Alumni Highlight

Rachel Pittman
graduation year

Dr. Pittman is a physics alumna from Cal Poly Pomona who graduated in 2006.  She is a former public high school physics teacher and K-12 site administrator. She currently serves as a county office educational administrator.

“My experience as a student in the Physics Department at Cal Poly Pomona was my font of inspiration for choosing teaching as a profession. I found physics to be the most difficult subject I had ever tackled and it gave me a strong drive to teach others the skills necessary to obtain an advanced science degree. My teaching career began as a private tutor which I did while taking undergraduate coursework. Those years were formative for me as a teacher because I realized how important it is to master differentiating instruction. The concept of designing curriculum to respond to the needs of students and increase their engagement carried itself to the classroom where I crafted curriculum for a larger audience. 

As a high school physics teacher, I was privileged to be a part of the community of physics educators from the greater Los Angeles area.  I frequently attended teaching seminars and these educator coalitions contributed to my pedagogy. It was an empowering experience to play a role in what public education should look like through modeling best practices in high school-level STEM instruction.  Incorporating meaningful problem solving, building students’ task analysis skills, and providing timely feedback is key in teaching students to master any branch of science.” 

Updated April 2022