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Donald Nelson Katz was born on the 11th of
October 1963.
He spent a huge chunk of his life at
3874 Dingaan Street, Galeshewe,
Kimberley, South Africa. The township in this part of the world used to
be named Vergenoeg. Donald is married with two beautiful
daughters. Donald matriculated at Homevale Secondary
school in 1981.
He regards himself as very lucky to have been recruited into Mathematics
education by Professor Chris Breen at the University of Cape Town. This
connection is primarily behind the eventual
MATHSLINK, where everybody counts!
Through his studies under professor Breen, Donald ended up working for the
then Mathematics Education Project (MEP), now consumed under the umbrella of the
Schools Development Unit (SDU). The MEP experience opened various opportunities and
fond associations with people like Jane Coombe, Zain
Davis, Jaamiah Galant, Charles
Ntsukukazifani Ncube, Ashley
Parsraman, Gabeba Agherdien, Agatha Lebethe,
Bronwen Wilson-Thompson, Charles Khati, Vusiwe
Ngcongca, Yusuf Johnson, Corville Cranfield, Mthunzi Nxawe, Gloria McKinnon,
Nothemba Vusani, Nkosinathi Mdleleni, Pinky Siyo, Linda, Cathrine Harrison,
Clement Dlamini, all the staff
at the education department at UCT, very importantly my neighbour John
Valentine, Lance Abrahams and a whole long list of people including the quiet yet highly
dedicated professor Kevin Rochford, Roy Pickerel, Jasmine Mohidin, Buyiswa
Lekker, Wendy Colyn and a whole string of people that I will always stay
indebted to.
Through my association with MEP, I accessed Dick Tahta, Geoff Faux, Anne
Watson, David Henderson, John Mason, Arthur Powell (Rutgers University), and a whole range
of resources in people of high caliber as human beings and certainly as entities
that either implicitly or explicitly, continue to raise the bar. I also accessed
Mathematics Learning And Teaching Initiative (MALATI), with fond recollections of association with
Dumisane Mdlalose, Kate Hudson, Hanli Murray, Karen Newstead, Kate Bennie, Rolene Liebenberg, the
late Bingo Lukhele professor Piet Human and all the rest of those wonderful
people..
MATHSLINK per se owes its eventual existence to dr. Olufemi Olubamidele
Oguntade.
With the UCT Mathematics department was the honour to engage with Professor
Kevin Hughes (he will certainly not remember that), Professor George Ellis, and
quite fondly Professor John Webb, Dr. Henri Laurie, and the wonderful couple, Dr
Sizwe Mabizela, and dr. Phetiwe Matutu.
Mzwai Kibi and professor Cyril Julie of cause are two people with whom I
remember an AMESA (Association of Mathematics Educators of South Africa)
incident which I had the honour to share with Mark Jacobs in the outskirts of
Bloemfontein.
Donald currently works for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) at
Esangweni High school, teaching grade 10 Geography (two classes), grade
10 Mathematics (three classes) and one Grade 12 class of 33 learners.
Donald Katz enjoys the distinction as the first African to work
occasionally in the capacity as lecturer for the African Institute of the
Mathematical Sciences Secondary (Aimssec), which is a Cambridge
University project in Africa.
Belgravia High school in Cape Town has a very long and colourful
History. Donald Katz has no qualm to acknowledge that he likes to be owned by
that institution, having been recruited to that school by the highly respected
Mr. Najaar.
He fondly remembers teaching at Princeton High
School. Mrs. Gordon was acting principal then, and very supportive. Mr. Najaar came in a supportive
capacity to boost the school, which effectively was a 2-in 1 school. Princeton High is an engineering
school. As such, it also is an academic school. There are literally two campuses
in one.
He was teaching at the time when learner totals were
dwindling. Some teachers had to leave and hence his move from Princeton to Belgravia,
where he spent 2 years in total, teaching grades 8 to 12 Mathematics. Prior to Princeton High school,
he had spent five years at the Khanya ICT project in education.
Donald Katz left through a rather
controversial decision by the then leadership. While at Khanya, his role was to
help improve curriculum delivery
through ICT in mathematics and science, with the intent to improve enrolment
figures for the then higher-grade
mathematics at targeted schools
in the Western Cape, and to improve the pass rates in
mathematics as well. That particular
job evolved into teaching Computer Literacy
at various Khanya Schools.
Monitoring and evaluation is certainly not new. MATHSLINK, and specifically
Donald Katz has a proud relationship that was built up with Dr. Cheryl Reeves.
Through Cheryl and MATHSLINK, Donald engaged various projects by, respectively
- The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)
- Joint Educatio Trust (JET)
- School Development Unit (SDU)
- SAILI
- Cheryl Reeves herself towards her doctorate degree
In this process, MATHSLINK had to critique curricula at classroom level in
relation to statutory dictates, to analyse pacing, and compliance (in terms of
Mathematical substance, Curricula pacing, didactical "appropriacy" and overall
practicality). Under Dr. Cheryl Reeves, Don Katz complied with MATHSLINK's
instruction in terms of data collection, analysis of some fieldwork data (e.g.
critiquing classroom practice in terms of pace, compliance, curricular substance
etc.)
University of the Western Cape
Donald spent time at the University of the Western
Cape, mostly in the Mathematics Education Department. In 2003, he lectured the
ACE
(Advanced Certificate in Education), and NPDE (National professional Diploma in Education)
courses.
He was lecturer for the Mathematics HOD students in 1997
Here is further summary of Donald's experience on the work
front:
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Mathematics Centre for Professional Teachers |
2001 -2002 |
Field Trainer for QLP (mathematics) |
Support of the Eastern Metropole EMDC with
mathematics education, specifically in terms of in-service training and
support for mathematics teachers
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UCT School of Education |
2000 |
Research Assistant |
Data collection for MEP /
Macmillan textbook
evaluation
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SAILI
|
2000 |
Research assistant |
Baseline data collection at SAILI project
schools
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Joint Education Trust |
1999 / 2000 |
Research assistant |
Data collection and overall support of and
assistance to the contracted researcher
·
Translating material from Tswana and Afrikaans
to English
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Cambridge University Press |
1999/2000 |
Consultant editor |
Mathematics Matters textbook for Grades
4 to 6, also for grade 8 school mathematics textbooks
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Cape Technikon
|
2000 |
Teacher in-service education |
Teaching on teacher in-service course
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Cape Technikon
|
1999 |
Teacher education consultant |
Work with lecturing staff on the
conceptualisation of an extra-mural teacher education series of workshops
for practicing teachers
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Cape Technikon
|
1999-2000 |
Lecturer |
Tutoring mathematics to learners in all levels
at the technikon, including, among others, students in engineering,
accountancy design and economics
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Lentegeur Secondary school |
2000 |
Teaching |
Physical Science grade 10 and general science grade 8. |
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Human Sciences Research Council |
2000 |
Researcher Assistant |
Collection of and report on baseline Data for QLP in the Northern Cape. |
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Mathematics Education Project (At The University Of Cape Town) |
1993 - 1998 |
Field worker / Teacher Educator |
Teacher education in mathematics teaching, learning and research, which
includes:
Work with mathematics teachers at all levels,
and from all walks of life and most prominently from least resourced
school environments
Work with college lecturers in the Western and
Southern Cape
Workshops for college lecturers in mathematics
education at all levels, at national [most Notably CEMP (Colleges of
Education Mathematics Project)], provincial and local level.
Enrichment activities for learners through
training for mathematics competitions, mathematics, science and technology
Expos
Consultant to MEP/Macmillan textbook series
named Maths for All
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Mugshots
|
1992-1999 |
Salesman |
Selling mugs, photography at various places in
the Western Cape
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Mathematics Learning And Teaching Initiative |
1997/8 |
Field worker |
Part-time post with MALATI, held through my
involvement with MEP. This entailed materials development for MALATI and
working on mathematics learning materials for learners at school levels
grade 4 to 9
Co-facilitation at teacher workshop
I was part of the initial team that
conceptualised the scope and extent of MALATI activities in mathematics
education
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University Of The Western Cape |
1997 |
Lecturer |
Visiting lecturer for fourth year mathematics
Education students at UWC, while their lecturer, professor Cyril Julie was
on sabbatical
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Photokeys |
1995 |
Sole proprietor |
Making Photokeys and managing staff of three
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Kaplan Centre Jewish Cafeteria (UCT) |
1990 to 1992 |
Cashier |
Worked as a cashier while studying at UCT |
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Delta Cables, Pty. Ltd |
1 July 1988 to 31 January 1989 |
Lab assistant. Calibrations. |
Responsible for calibration of measuring
equipment at Delta Cables
Clerk that was responsible for recording
extrusion processes and productivity of this section
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Ohpat Electronics |
1988 |
Salesman |
Door-to door salesman of electronic
anti-hijack equipment
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Department Of Education And Culture (House Of Representatives) |
1985 - 1987 |
Teacher of Mathematics, General- and Physical Science |
At Bonteheuwel high, Uitzig high and Symphony
high schools for three consecutive years
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Thanks to the experience at Esangweni High School, Donald have
significantly improved his linguistic abilities. Added to Afrikaans, Tswana
and English, Donald has significantly increased his working Xhosa
knowledge through teaching at the particular school.
In the process, he has also studied the whole process of
line fishing, given that the school is a few hundred metres from the beach.
"Let there be peace on our planet, so that the best dreams of
the human race may be realised and the greatest achievements of the
civilisations may be saved to purposefully season the days of our lives whilst
we survive the usual quake of our universe". C.N. Ncube
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