Part of the equation: For Bener Uygun, teaching math just adds up

Bener Uygun enrolled at Rowan University expecting to become a civil engineer.

But his love of mathematics—and his birthright—intervened.

“Academically, I was doing OK,” Uygun, who has never had a grade other than an “A” in his Rowan career, says with understatement.

“But I just wasn’t in love with it.”

He did, however, begin to consider a career in teaching when, while still an engineering major, he went to a local school over two semesters to teach students engineering concepts with the Engineers Without Borders team.

“Working with the students made me realize education might be the right path for me. I wanted to have a career where I could share my interest in education with others,” he says. “I changed my major to math. I felt that’s where I belonged.”

Now, as he prepares to earn his master's degree in STEM education from Rowan’s College of Education on Thursday, May 12, Uygun has no doubt teaching mathematics at the middle school or high school levels is for him.

It’s a natural decision for Uygun, a third-generation educator and first-generation American who earned his mathematics degree with a concentration in education from Rowan last year. His maternal grandmother was a teacher and his mother has taught for three decades.

“Growing up and being a student, education was ingrained in my identity as a person. Leaving that behind just didn’t feel right,” says Uygun, of Lake Hiawatha.

‘I try not to stand at the board’

In his junior year, Uygun enrolled in the MA in STEM Education program, which prepares students with undergraduate degrees in STEM fields for successful careers as highly skilled math and science teachers. As he completed his math degree, graduating with highest honors, he began taking master’s level classes.

“I got a head start on graduate courses. It definitely made it feel like less of a jump from undergraduate studies to graduate school,” he says.

For his clinical practice, Uygun is teaching mathematics and advanced geometry to seventh- and eighth-graders at Glassboro’s Intermediate School.

His first rule for himself? “I try not to stand at the board,” he says. “I get them involved in as much as possible in the class. We have activities that are discussion-based and hands-on. It helps them be engaged more with the math.”

Uygun is prepared to do whatever he can to convey to his students that math is fascinating—and fun. He does warm-up activities with them, challenges them to figure out what item in a series doesn’t belong, and even sometimes does Wordle with them to help them put logic and reasoning into action.

“A lot of kids think math is a set of rules and procedures you have to memorize,” says Uygun. “But there’s a lot more to math than that. There’s a lot of thought. Students get involved in it through discussions and problem solving. If you can get them involved in as much as possible, they are invested in it.”

A ‘preternatural’ calm

Quietly and without fanfare, Uygun continues to put in the hard work necessary to be an effective teacher, says Professor Robert Wieman, Uygun’s mathematics teaching methods instructor and clinical practice field supervisor.

“He has a lot of good qualities of a good teacher,” says Wieman, noting Uygun’s exceptional understanding of mathematics, his work ethic, and his “preternatural” calm classroom demeanor. That’s true whether he’s teaching academically gifted students or those who are struggling, according to Wieman.

“He brings a sense of calm to the classroom,” Wieman continues. “When he teaches, nothing seems to faze him. He takes everything in stride. Nothing hijacks Bener’s class.

“He is quite skillful in engaging the whole class in mathematical work and discussion, creating lessons that provide both support and challenge. He also creates opportunities for students to talk with each other and move around the room, channeling their developmentally appropriate need for movement and social interaction into productive mathematics work.”

Success—in academics, in the classroom—is vitally important to Uygun. Growing up, he was a three-sport athlete. As a 13-year-old he pitched in the 2012 Little League World Series for New Jersey’s Par Troy East squad.

“I see getting an ‘A’ as winning,” says Uygun. “I personally just like to do my best in whatever I do. Not putting in my full effort just doesn’t resonate with me.”

While he’ll teach math, Uygun also isn’t ruling out the change to coach as well. He is ready, he says, for the challenge of influencing the lives of his students and working to help them appreciate the study of the “M”—mathematics—within the STEM disciplines.

“I do think that education can be the inspiration for students’ career choices and education definitely played a role in my choice of a career path,” he says.

“What excites me the most about being a teacher is just being a positive influence on students, seeing their growth over the years, and being able to share some of the things I enjoy with them…both in terms of math and, hopefully, coaching in the future.”