Enjoy Doing Math

I have taught mathematics in grades 2 - 8 and in higher education. I currently teach undergraduate mathematics courses to preservice elementary and middle school teachers and graduate courses to practicing teachers. I also provide workshops for inservice teachers about the teaching and learning of mathematics. Lately, of course, those workshops have focused on the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

Mathematics makes sense! In class, my students work on activities that enable them to see relationships and to come up with the formal procedures used by the larger mathematics community. Students talk about what they are noticing and they challenge and build on each others' ideas. My goal is for students to experience mathematics as something that makes sense and has many uses and to have fun doing it. Let's enjoy doing math!

Recipient of the Association of Teacher Educators February 2000 Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Award for the paper “Moving Students Through Steps of Mathematical Knowing: An Account of the Practice of an Elementary Mathematics Teacher in Transition.”

B.S. in mathematics from Penn State; Teaching Certificate from Youngstown State University; M.A. in mathematics from Ohio State; and a Ph.D. in mathematics education from Penn State

Select presentations at mathematics education conferences: Decomposing and Composing Numbers: Why Are These Activities Important? Association of Mathematics Teachers of New Jersey conference, East Windsor, NJ, October 4, 2012. Understanding Fractions as Numbers as Emphasized in the Common Core. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference, Atlantic City, NJ, October 20, 2011. Let’s Master Those Basic Multiplication Facts! National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference, Atlantic City, NJ, October 20, 2011. Let’s Count What We Can’t See! Fun Ways to Learn Fact Families. Association of Mathematics Teachers of New Jersey conference, Somerset, NJ, October 15, 2009. Add and Subtract Using Ten Frames. Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference, Valley Forge, PA, November 9, 2007. Using Representations to Support Students’ Use of Invented Strategies. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference, Atlantic City, NJ, October 20, 2006. Will It Always Work? Questions That Help Students Make and Test Conjectures. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference, St. Louis, April 28, 2006. Developing Students’ Abilities to Count, Compute, and Reason Using Units of Ten. The Association of Mathematics Teachers of New Jersey conference, Somerset, NJ, October 28, 2005. Using Number Sense Strategies to Multiply: Basic Facts and Beyond. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference, Anaheim, April 9, 2005. Add and Subtract With Regrouping: Moving From Manipulatives to Symbol Use. Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching (CAMT), Dallas, July 8, 2002.