“I am a believer in that we are continually a community of learners. The teachers that I get to work with share a wealth of knowledge and we get to explore together how the Big Ideas of mathematics play out in early mathematics classrooms.
The Kentucky Center for Mathematics and Erikson Early Math Collaborative have been working together to spread knowledge about mathematical development to early childhood teachers throughout Kentucky.
Jennifer Martin, a teacher leader in this program, has witnessed encouraging progress in her classrooms. Her first grade math intervention students received scores 27.7% higher than the national average throughout the 2013-2014 school year. Along with this, in October, she received the Richmond Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year Award.
Martin says that a major strength of the program lies in its ability to take math beyond the scope of the classroom for students and teachers alike. For students, connecting math to familiar stories helps contextualize some of the more abstract concepts in early mathematics. For teachers, the program fosters a community outside of their individual classrooms, allowing for conversation and collaboration surrounding their students’ mathematical development.
The Early Math Collaborative works to improve math instruction for young children in three ways:
