HOW I BEGAN THIS WORK

A journey with a beginning but no ending.

I grew up in Rochester, New York. My parents are both scientists and my Mom was also a teacher. My life took me to Baltimore, Australia, Japan, California, and now Washington DC where I teach at an independent school outside of the city. 

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Early childhood and elementary mathematics has been my passion since my original teacher education at UCSB in 2008/2009. The past 7 years, I have been in Kindergarten and the curiosity and capacity of young mathematicians continues to capture my heart.

We know from research that humans are born with mathematical brains and certain understandings. Yet, at 5 years old, my students often begin Kindergarten with a very limited understanding of what mathematics is. My goal is to help children develop a much broader understanding of what mathematics is: what it feels like, sounds like and looks like. I also want children to feel the joy and creativity of doing mathematics.

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Last fall, I embarked on action research as part of my graduate work through the Math Leadership Program at Mt. Holyoke College. My students engaged in what I called "wondering workshops" once a week. They were given opportunities to observe or offer "noticings" and to wonder through tasks involving growing patterns, pictures of math in nature, and geometry. 

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Now, I embark on work to continue this goal of expanding and growing children's ideas about mathematics. I will explore some instructional tools and invite teachers and parents to follow my journey as I post about what happens and share my thoughts.

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I invite parents and fellow teachers to join me by engaging in discussion along this journey!