As a mathematics educator, I investigate the impact of instructional strategies and resources on the mathematical identities, beliefs, and learning of my students who are future K-8 teachers in Georgia, examining (mis)conceptions, the resources and experiences needed to become independent learners of mathematics, and how diversity and inclusion can be integrated and modeled in mathematics classrooms. These topics are fundamentally interdisciplinary, integrating mathematical sciences, education of teachers, psychology, and scholarship of teaching and learning.

I am passionate about supporting undergraduate mathematics students – future teachers or other majors – in mathematical creativity and critical thinking, connection-making and flexibility in concept visualization, and critical use of mathematics to investigate professional and everyday worlds. To support this type of learning, I use critically reflective practice and engagement in learning communities to develop rigorous and inclusive instructional strategies and resources to support students’ mathematical identities, beliefs, and learning.

Almost all my undergraduate mathematics students are future K-8 teachers. Many of them enter my classroom wrestling with varying levels of anxiety that come from past trauma in mathematics classrooms. Many of them struggle to successfully complete the basic concepts and computations that they will soon be expected to teach. Hence in addition to the course content, I integrate resources on studying mathematics, developing mindsets, analyzing strategies and (mis)conceptions, and discussing how tasks and strategies can support diversity and inclusion in mathematics classrooms.