Ralph Pantozzi began his teaching career in 1992 at Hightstown High School, and taught 6-12th grade students and supervised instruction in New Jersey schools for 19 years. For the past eight years, he has served as a teacher and department chair at the Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey, and continues to explore ways to inspire creative mathematical thinking in his students.

Early in his career, Ralph contributed to National Science Foundation-funded research projects, learning that listening attentively to students’ ideas is central to good teaching. In Ralph’s classrooms, students talk, investigate phenomena using physical objects and technological tools, pose questions, and choose their own mathematical adventures. Through NCTM and Twitter, Ralph advocates for learning environments where students and teachers construct knowledge together.

Ralph has won the Princeton University Prize for Distinguished Teaching in the Secondary Schools and the National Museum of Mathematics’ Rosenthal Prize for Innovation and Inspiration in Math Teaching, for lessons that employ technology, play, and conversation. He also co-authored Exploring Calculus with the Geometer’s Sketchpad. He was named a winner of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching in 2019.

When he’s not researching his own family’s genealogy (or meeting one of his 402 first through sixth cousins), Ralph will be found reading about current and historical events, or visiting historical landmarks with his wife and two children.