About Me

I believe that students learn best when they build visual models of the math concepts they are studying.  These models provide access to math concepts in a way that makes sense to students.  There is no confusion with memorizing meaningless procedures.  Math makes sense when one can visually see what is happening.  I also believe that students learn mathematics best when engaged in discussion with others about what they have learned and discovered.  Through these discussions students explore their own viewpoints and consider the viewpoints of others.  Disequilibrium is essential to the process.  When students encounter new ideas or new ways of thinking about old ideas they will deepen their own understanding. Even adults, who have learned math in a different way, will have their own “aha” moments when exploring math using a visual math philosophy.  Most will say, “I would have been so good at math if I had learned this way.”      

I am math coach, workshop leader, and consultant to public and private schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. I have over twenty years of teaching experience with children, including a decade as a teacher of gifted second graders at The Nueva School.  I also co-authored a book with Michael Thompson: Understanding Independent School Parents.