About Sue
As a new teacher, I became aware that my fifth grade students had significant gaps in understanding mathematics. Thus began my journey to understand how children learn mathematics. Inspired by the work of author Jonathon Kozol (Savage Inequalities, 1991) I became particularly interested in our most vulnerable and under-represented populations and supporting the teachers that day in and day out serve these students with compassion, enthusiasm, and kindness.
This learning journey has taken me to amazing places: from the elementary classroom, to writing materials for preschool students, to teaching pre-service teachers at Boston University, to speaking at conferences from coast to coast in the United States, to writing a children’s book, and to volunteering in the Galapagos Islands! I have been fortunate for these experiences and to have met incredible educators along the way who have been willing to teach and inspire me. I am still curious, still learning, and I have a deep respect for all educators.
Some of my Speaking Engagements
Maths Teachers Circles: Powerful Routines - MTC Australia, 2022
Puzzles and Play - ATMNE VT, NCTM Baltimore, NHTM 2022
Same But Different Math - ATMNE VT, NCTM: CA and Baltimore 2022
Assessment for Learning: 3 Powerful Shifts for the Math Classroom - Nepal, 2022
Teaching with Manipulatives: Building Understanding of Addition Facts - NCTM 2021
Counting on Problem Solving: Learn the 3 Keys to Using Rich Counting Tasks with Young Learners - Knowledghook, 2021
Early Math Matters: Promotoing Equity from the Start - Knowledgehook, 2021
Mathematics and Human Connections - Nancy Davis Welch Memorial PD 2019
Same But Different - Fostering Equity through a Language Based Routine - NCTM San Diego and Boston, 2019
What is this “new math” all about anyways? Supporting Families - Stoughton 2019
Counting is as easy as 1,2,3 … or is it? Guatemala 2019 / Galapagos Islands 2018 / Washington DC 2018
Math and Mindfulness Boston 2019
The Power of Play in the Math Classroom - Boston 2018
Calling out the Brilliance of all students - Nancy Davis Welch Memorial PD 2018
Let’s be Detectives: Unpacking SMP 7 & 8 in the early childhood classroom - NCTM Texas 2017
Modeling with the Mathematics in the Early Grades - MACS, Bridgewater, MA March 2016
Mathematizing your Routines - NCTM Boston 2015
Publications
Same But Different Math: Helping Students Connect Concepts, Build Number Sense, and Deepen Understanding - Routledge, 2023
Ying and the Magic Turtle - Natural Math, 2019
High Five for Mathematics - NCTM Teaching Children Mathematics - May 2016.
Problem Solving for Pre-K Math, (Looney, S. Editor.). Exemplars, (2006).
Education
Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a Specialty in Mathematics, Boston University, MA
Master’s in Elementary Education, Bridgewater University, MA
Bachelor’s Degree in English, Providence College, RI