Making Thinklings

Welcome! My passion is making math understandable. Before spending the last four years in general education, I worked in special education for fourteen years. During that time, I learned that many students don’t struggle with math because they “can’t do it,” but because it’s often taught without enough meaning or context to organize their thinking. One of my biggest takeaways from special education is this: brains hold onto ideas better when they have a place to store them. When math is reduced to rules and steps without purpose, it can feel like “number salad” to students — symbols moving around with no anchor. My work has always focused on helping students build those anchors so understanding sticks, application feels possible, and confidence grows. I believe math is a language. People don’t say they’re “dumb” because they don’t speak Spanish — and the same should be true for math. Students need opportunities to use math, not just follow procedures: to generate ideas, interpret meaning, and make sense of what the symbols are saying. My goal is to create resources that make this process easier for students and more effective for teachers. I’m excited to share this work and hope you’ll join me as I continue developing meaningful, concept-driven math lessons.