I am a former high school mathematics teacher who has always loved teaching and talking about mathematics. The people who have most influenced me have been teachers: from my very first teachers, my parents; to my childhood neighbors (many of whom were career schoolteachers and professors); to elementary, secondary, college, and graduate school teachers and professors. All of these people instilled in me a love of learning and underscored daily that learning is something to be enjoyed, and it is something you never stop doing. I hope to share this love of learning with everyone with whom I am privileged to work.

Being a professor of mathematics education allows me to blend my interests in teaching, learning, mathematics, and research. In my work I draw on history and contemporary contexts to explore how people learn and are socialized to do mathematics in various “communities” (peer, neighborhood, school, family and home). I also explore how teachers can capitalize on students’ strengths (rather than focus on students’ “deficits”) to improve students’ mathematics outcomes (performance, participation, and persistence). In my research I use historical, quantitative, and qualitative research methods, to tell the most complete story about mathematics teaching and learning that I can.

I hope you enjoy learning about the work I do from this website. Thank you very much for visiting.