To teach transformational geometry, King uses music. Students are asked to make a tune of eight musical notes. The next day, King performed their melodies on a music keyboard in different musical styles, from reggae to heavy metal. Reversing the sequences of notes or making mirror images of them, sliding them up and down the musical scale, she showed them how geometric shapes could be transformed in the same way. Another project extends the study of tesselations by making the shapes from paper triangles and hanging them in mobiles around the classroom, a lesson she used for her application for national board certification.
Students also draw geometric shapes in creative designs for the bulletin boards.
Her creativity doesn t stop at the classroom door. She has written one of the annual faculty plays and has directed five plays. As costume director for 13 years for all Reed theater productions, she often sews racks of costumes for student actors and singers. Besides her two classes of geometry, King teaches remedial classes to help students pass the state math proficiency test, required for graduation. I volunteered for them because those types of classes usually go to the new teachers, and it needs to be an experienced teacher.