Forty one years. Five schools. Twelve different courses. Six thousand students.

Throughout the years, math teacher Bill Marthinsen has only learned more about the teaching process and continues to tweak his approach in order to create a successful learning environment for students.

Ever since Marthinsen can remember, he has been interested in math, but he never expected to be a teacher. In fact, when he was in college, being a teacher was the one thing he did not want to be.

“Math has always felt natural and was something I could easily understand,” Marthinsen said.

Going through high school and college during the Vietnam War, Marthinsen experienced a shift in the relationship between students and teachers because of student protests. Teachers and colleges withdrew from reaching out to students due to the confrontational nature of the interactions.

“Students who needed support and may have gotten that in the past were left to figure it out on their own,” Marthinsen said.

After finishing college and getting his degree, Marthinsen was unsure of where to go or what to do.

“I was very interested in social structure and the relationship of educational systems to that structure,” Marthinsen said.

Combining those passions with his love for working with kids, Marthinsen attended a master’s program in teaching.

Marthinsen looked up to his dad who gave him advice to find something that he really enjoyed because that way he would always be learning more.

One of the parts of teaching that Marthinsen loves is that every class, everyday and every year is different because the students are all different.

“I also enjoy working with students and helping them realize that they can think for themselves and that there are things worth appreciating the wonder of,” Marthinsen said.

Sophomore Anders Bjork, who is currently in Marthinsen’s math analysis class, has experienced his passionate teaching style.

“He really encourages us to find our own answers and lead the discussions in class,” Bjork said.

When he moved from Philadelphia to the Bay Area in 1976, Marthinsen felt he was missing something and soon realized it was baseball.

“Spring wasn’t official until I got a chance to throw a ball around,” Marthinsen said.

While driving through Berkeley, he came across a group of people playing a pick up softball game and asked to join.

“At the end, everyone touched base about meeting next week,” Marthinsen said. “Every Saturday I played softball with a revolving collection of people.”

Soon after, a team, called the Silencers, formed and now Marthinsen manages the team.

Marthinsen said that the multi generational side of being on the team is similar to teaching.

“The idea of connecting with and learning from other generations, and that one generation leads to another, is very significant,” Marthinsen said.

Throughout his teaching career, Marthinsen has discovered a lot about the learning process, including the value of connecting with students. Getting a dog and training it to be smart and responsive made the biggest difference in his approach teaching.

“I came to realize the need for positive reinforcement and how you get a way better response through being positive,” Marthinsen said.

In addition, Marthinsen saw how much math can teach us about life when he came to PHS.

“The main thing about math is that it is about recognition of patterns and there’s nothing else in life if there aren’t patterns,” Marthinsen said.

Math teacher John Hayden has known Marthinsen since 1998 and has shared a room with him for the majority of their time at PHS.

“He has an incredible depth of knowledge and if I don’t know the history behind something, I turn to him,” Hayden said.

Hayden also said his first impression of Marthinsen was that he was a like minded soul in terms of educational philosophy.

Marthinsen’s teaching has not changed, but his grading and how he interacts with students has evolved, Hayden said.

“He grades us not only on our outcome, but on the process of getting there and our respect,” Bjork said.

Students do not understand how supportive teachers are because they are constantly being graded,” Marthinsen said.

“I admire how truly student centered he is, everything he does is to push students farther,” Hayden said.

He really listens to us, gages how students feel about issues in the classroom and adapts his lessons to benefit us, Bjork said.

“I look at my students and they are as smart as I am, just younger,” Marthinsen said. “They haven’t had as many chances to make mistakes and learn from them.”

Marthinsen believes strongly in equality and tries not to talk down to students or create different levels of status.

“If someone is more special, it kills the humanity of the meeting,” Marthinsen said.

Marthinsen also believes that everyone is a student and is still learning more about teaching everyday.

“You hit a point just about no matter what you do where you get tired of it,” Marthinsen said. “And I haven’t hit that point yet with teaching.”