Author Spotlight: Michael Serra

We want you to get to know the people behind our products! Starting this month, we will be featuring an author on our blog in our Author Spotlight series. Today, let’s get to know Michael Serra—author of Discovering Geometry.

Serra’s lifelong passion for the world of mathematics is evident through his 40+ years of teaching, mentoring, and developing his own math curriculum. During his early career, he found a way to teach and motivate students to learn geometry using familiar objects like patty paper, tennis ball cans, balloons, and string. These concepts, and his other teaching methods, soon inspired the makings of the innovative textbook Discovering Geometry.

This high school level textbook helps students develop inductive and deductive reasoning skills as they explore congruence, similarity, symmetry, and the many other principles of geometry. This textbook follows the philosophy that the introduction of proof in geometry should be delayed until the students are ready, taking on a unique approach to teaching the concepts of geometry.

As a decorated speaker, author, and professional development workshop leader, Serra’s accomplishments span far beyond teaching high school geometry. In addition to Discovering Geometry, he has also published Patty Paper Geometry, the Mathercise Series, and What’s Wrong with This Picture?, along with the creation of a video series to accompany Discovering Geometry. He has published articles in numerous math newsletters and journals and is a popular speaker at state, regional and national mathematics conferences in more than 40 U.S. states and five countries. For over 30 years, Serra has been offering professional development for teachers interested in pursuing a discovery approach to geometry.

When he is not ruling the world of math, Serra enjoys traveling, playing disc golf, and learning about interior design and glass art. Since retiring from high school teaching in 2001, he has begun his weekly volunteer contribution as a “Mathemagician” for students at a local San Francisco elementary school, where he creates fun math games and puzzles that introduce students to the advanced concepts they will experience later in their education. After 15 years of working with these students, Serra also published Smart Moves and Pirate Math as fun ways to integrate math concepts at an earlier age, which in some cases, reduces the math anxiety that sometimes plagues students (and their parents).

To learn more about this author, visit his website.  To request a sample of his textbook, Discovering Geometry, please click here.