Each week on “Making a Difference,” our host, Whitney Mincey interviews people making a difference in their community. Today, Whitney had the pleasure of talking with Sarah Schaefer of Mathodology.
Short company description:
Mathodology is a professional development company that believes in the power of collaboration and partnership. We provide professional learning for teachers and proudly partner with Developing Roots Early Elementary and think! Mathematcis curriculums to enhance math understanding. Through our supportive relationships and comprehensive resources, we’re revolutionizing math education and empowering teachers to unlock their students’ potential.
How did you get started in your field or work?
As a teacher
What’s one thing we should know that makes your company unique?
We empower teachers with unparalleled materials and professional learning support to cultivate a thinking classroom.
What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome in your business?
- Red tape in some school systems.
- Cultural acceptance that it is ok to say-“I’m not a math person” We would never accept someone saying I am not good at reading or I can’t read but with math we think it is ok.
- Mindset- In our cultural we see struggle as a negative. We need to help teachers and students view struggle as an opportunity to grow.
Please provide your LinkedIn Profile (If none , please. put NA): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-schaefer-math/
Please select one question that you would like our host to ask you: - What was a reason you left the classroom to start your own business? – This would tee up the idea that I could have a larger impact by teaching teachers all over the world in making a global impact.
- Another question that we would need to be careful of is What are the gaps in our educational system? -One issue is that our teachers don’t know the math content but you can’t call them out. We need to position it as teachers don’t have time (teachers will connect to this statement) we need to provide quality resources and support to meet their demands.
- When people complain about “new math” what is an easy way to help them understand what is meant by this statement.- The idea behind this is that math has not changed but the skills required for these students has changed and our approach to teaching the same math needs to meet these needs.
