Mathacognitive

My students left school as teenagers, before that they mostly went to schools that struggled and where they struggled. They’re back as adults, and balancing work, kids, family, life and school. They’re determined (and awesome, in my humble opinion) but they’re not necessarily convinced they can learn math. My job is to convince them otherwise (and then help them learn enough math to get a high school credential). We blend math with learning about learning, and try to build structures that will help every student become a confident, successful math learner.

I believe that we all need to learn how to learn, and that we can do this without taking (always precious!) time away from content. My lessons combine math learning, with learning about learning, study skills, metacognition, and neuroscience. I don't believe in one-size-fits-all, so I give you options to customize my materials to your students.

I was that girl. Smart, good in school, and somewhere around sine waves and that teacher I didn’t like but had two years in a row, I decided I wasn’t a math person. I was a social sciences person, I was going to save the world, and I didn’t see how calculus was going to help with that. Years later, a volunteer gig in a GED class showed me there was joy to be found in teaching adults and the intellectual and interpersonal challenge of convincing them that they were math people. Or at least, capable math learners. One career change later, I teach math, but really I think about brains and learning, about anxiety, efficacy and metacognition. In short, about the human side of math class

I blog about teaching, learning and math at mathacognitive.com. Connect with me there, on twitter (mathacognitive) or subscribe to receive email updates: http://eepurl.com/gQ9I45