I graduated from East Texas Baptist University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Education, and my teaching certification is for grades 1-8. I've spent most of my classroom time teaching 3rd graders, but I've taught 4th grade, 6th grade, and 7th grade as well, and tutored an even wider range of grades. I've coached Number Sense, Spelling, and Chess Puzzle Solving for UIL competitions, plus SAT Test Prep for the Duke University's Talent Identification Program. I taught many Gifted and Talented students through the years also. Ultimately, I try to help students learn the concept behind the math steps, how it all fits together, why it works, so they can apply it to many situations. Also, I try to go back and fill in gaps they may have missed along the way that are keeping them from grasping current content. I like to use tunes for singing the multiples of numbers, which helps the multiplication facts stick with the students more easily. Those facts are so important for making other concepts of math achievable. I try to help my students understand that it's okay to make mistakes. The important thing is that they need to be willing to try, even if they make mistakes. Sometimes we learn more from our mistakes than we do from all the things we got right. I'm convinced there's a mathematician inside of each one of us. My job is to find a way to reach my students' inner mathematician and help them grow to like math more and more.