The concept of being “unhealthy at math” or “not a math particular person” is deeply entrenched in American schooling — for college students and lecturers alike.
However it doesn’t need to be, says Phonisha Hawkins, director of tutorial excellence for secondary math at KIPP Texas Public Faculties, a department of the nationwide KIPP constitution community.
If we encourage lecturers to be extra assured in their very own math talents, Hawkins believes, the subsequent era of scholars may have stronger expertise and higher confidence in math as effectively.
To do this, although, each college students and lecturers should perceive how math works on the conceptual degree — past memorizing formulation and studying methods for attending to the best reply.
As a curriculum specialist in Houston, Hawkins combats math anxiousness within the classroom by serving to to demystify the ideas for lecturers, and taking the topic off the web page and bringing it to life for college students (often utilizing chocolate chip cookies as a handy studying software).
For Function Name, our collection the place we function unsung college workers members who assist form the day for teenagers, we spoke with Hawkins about how her job determines how lecturers train and what college students be taught — and the ripple impact that may have.
The next interview has been frivolously edited and condensed for readability.

Title: Phonisha Hawkins
Age: 42
Location: Houston, Texas
Title: Director of Tutorial Excellence for Secondary Math
Present age group: Grades 6-8
Years within the area: 15
EdSurge: How did you get right here? What introduced you to your present position?
Phonisha Hawkins: I began off as a classroom trainer. I taught seventh grade math for 5 years. Whereas I used to be instructing seventh grade math, my principal launched me to an expert studying firm for educators, and we attended coaching from that firm to be taught extra about intervention within the classroom.
I started to essentially fall in love with intervention and what meaning for our college students and the way it modified every part that I did within the classroom. From there, I went on to be an interventionist. I left and went again to the district that I used to be raised in, which is right here within the Houston space, and I labored as an interventionist for 4 years specializing in sixth grade math.
After I did that, I made a decision that I needed to work extra with lecturers and do extra teaching. So then I turned an tutorial coach for a center college, for sixth, seventh and eighth grade. That led me into my position because the district math specialist in my earlier district. I used to be mainly the face of center college math. I used to be put accountable for main the curriculum implementation of high-quality tutorial supplies, so from coaching, calendars, assessments, every part. And I did that for 2 years. We started to have visits from different districts who needed to see how we have been implementing the Carnegie Studying curriculum. When KIPP Texas additionally adopted Carnegie Studying, it was a task that just about, I would not say fell in my lap, however it simply made lots of sense due to the work that I had been doing for 2 years. So that’s what led me to the place I’m now, at KIPP Texas.
When folks outdoors of faculty ask you what you do — as an instance you are at a social occasion with non-education of us — how do you describe your work?
I describe myself as a curriculum specialist. I feel that is one of the simplest ways. Individuals perceive what a curriculum is, they usually perceive a specialist as being somebody who has experience in that space.
[Beyond that], I might first most likely describe it as an individual who manages all issues curriculum — so mainly precisely what I used to be doing at my final district. So I describe my position as somebody who authors curriculum [and] writes assessments, and on a bigger scale, you are ready to try this for a complete college district. That comes with coaching lecturers on curriculum greatest practices, academic pedagogy, and tips on how to ship studying to a various group of scholars.
Schooling just isn’t one-size-fits-all. So I additionally work with lecturers on tips on how to differentiate curriculum for the particular populations of scholars they’ve of their lecture rooms. So total, I might simply say I implement, handle and conduct curriculum. I feel folks type of get that, as soon as I describe it that means.
Are you additionally serving to to pick the curricula for the district?
There are occasions when that does occur. A whole lot of occasions that occurs above me, particularly after we’re in a proclamation or adoption 12 months. However typically what they’re going to do is that they’ll permit somebody in my position or within the curriculum division to vet supplies earlier than they’re chosen. So you could have one, two or three firms that you are looking at and also you then get to vet these. So somebody in my place would be capable of do these sorts of issues.
What does a tough day appear to be in your job?
In my position, for somebody who loves curriculum as a lot as I do, a tough day can be if you’re attempting to do what’s greatest to your lecturers or what’s greatest for college students, and also you hit roadblocks of purple tape if you’re attempting to make these choices. what must be put in entrance of scholars, what adjustments should be made, what pivots must occur, however you find yourself having to undergo a number of layers of approval to get issues executed. And when you’re going by means of that entire total course of, that what your lecturers want and what college students want, they will not be getting immediately. I feel these have been my hardest days as a curriculum specialist.
Are you able to say a little bit bit extra about that? Is it typically a roadblock that is a lifeless finish, or is it a delay?
I might say extra of a delay, like a flight that retains getting pushed again. For instance, with high-quality tutorial supplies, coaching and improvement to your lecturers is an absolute should. You can not implement the supplies and never have the degrees and anchors of help that you simply want. So one roadblock that I’ve run into is funding. Like if I wanted to get particular coaching for my lecturers — as a result of I am strolling campuses, I am speaking to principals, I am speaking to tutorial coaches, and all of us could also be figuring out one particular space that we have to prepare our lecturers in.
For instance, conceptual studying. A whole lot of the educational merchandise have opened up our eyes to actual conceptual studying, not simply procedural math anymore. However lots of lecturers have solely grown up and realized and skilled below procedural studying. So understanding that, hey, I do want this coaching for our lecturers. I can ship it, however I would like the manpower to assist me ship it. And so one roadblock that I’ve run into is a funding subject — a specific vendor saying it’ll value this a lot, and now we have now to undergo all of the nuances of finances approval as a way to make that occur. However all of the whereas, the lecturers and the scholars nonetheless aren’t receiving what they want.
So that may be an ideal instance of only a arduous or irritating day for me, understanding what lecturers want and understanding that I am answerable for ensuring that they get that.
With the instance you gave of conceptual studying versus procedural studying, if conceptual studying is a more moderen improvement in tips on how to train math, how do you study these issues so that you simply’re outfitted to then train and talk that to different lecturers?
The joke that I at all times make is I used to be raised in a unique time in schooling, though it is solely been 15 years. My first 5 years have been so essential to my improvement as an educator. I used to be very blessed as a result of I had a workforce, I had an tutorial coach, after which I additionally had my assistant principals and my campus principal who actually poured into our studying. There was at all times coaching and improvement occurring. And that coaching and improvement pushed me to be a greater trainer.
One of many easiest issues that I ever did was — and this got here from one in all my particular schooling co-teachers — is he stated, ‘Hey, we have to begin determining how our children be taught.’ And so we began giving our college students a studying model survey, and it will inform us in the event that they have been tactile, visible or auditory learners, and we’d then scope our curriculum or lesson plans, ensuring that we’re hitting all of these. It helped me to be a extra conceptual learner. The distinction, after all, is that procedural goes to be your step-by-step math.
Among the best examples I feel that anybody can establish with is dividing fractions. In dividing fractions, you should utilize ‘preserve, change, flip.’ That is the trick. The conceptual half is, why does that work? Why is dividing by the fraction or multiplying by the reciprocal going to get you a similar factor? And so lecturers will train, ‘preserve, change, flip,’ however they do not inform college students why it really works. So when college students get a phrase drawback or they get one thing that is in contrast to what you’ve got given them earlier than, the training would not stick.
I used to be very lucky to, like I stated, have leaders who understood instruction, they usually understood what I wanted. Having the chance to go to so many various trainings and be taught so many various issues from nice academic leaders, I do not see that as typically now as I did 10 to 12 years in the past. It’s a little bit completely different, however I additionally assume that the subsequent half to that’s as a trainer, you must develop higher.
So in case your district or your college could not have the cash to ship you to those trainings, YouTube is ideal. I might go on YouTube quite a bit and simply do lots of analysis myself to determine what different individuals are doing. How are different folks instructing this? A whole lot of occasions the trainer down the hallway is your greatest skilled studying useful resource since you each are instructing the identical factor, however they’re most likely instructing it another way. You possibly can be taught from different educators in your constructing.
What does a very good day appear to be in your position?
A superb day in my world is me with the ability to stroll right into a classroom, and I hear college students speaking about math. I do not hear or see the trainer on the entrance saying, ‘Copy what I simply wrote down on the board.’ I am truly strolling right into a classroom and I get to see college students utilizing prior information to reach at an answer. They’re having conversations — I wish to name them math fights. Whether or not they agree or disagree, they’ll discuss to one another about what they’re studying.
So lately, we have been doing a fraction division, and I used to be working with one of many lecturers, and I stated, ‘Hey, let’s carry this off the web page for the children a little bit bit. Let’s make the training actual for them.’ We introduced in chocolate chip cookies so the scholars have been capable of mannequin, like, three divided by three-fifths. They have been capable of mannequin that with the precise cookies, having a little bit plastic butter knife and slicing the cookies up into fifths after which saying, ‘OK, effectively that is three, and that is three.’ Simply watching the scholars be taught conceptually, and never simply utilizing a trick or simply writing down no matter they see of their textbook — that was a very good day for me.
The trainer bought some nice knowledge on the finish of the day, too, as a result of we have now to do exit tickets. So we’ll do one to 2 questions on the finish of the lesson simply to verify the children bought it, and in the event that they did not, what can we do to pivot? And that trainer had over 80 % of her college students exceed the mark on an exit ticket. And when she texted me on the finish of the day, she stated it was due to the cookies. They bought it with the cookies.
For me, that was a very good day as a result of she was completely satisfied together with her knowledge, and the scholars have been studying — they have been consuming cookies as they have been studying. It was a superb day to see curriculum come to life for college students. And you’ll see math anxiousness reducing in a classroom like that.
What’s an surprising means your position shapes the day for teenagers?
The choices that somebody like me makes straight impacts pupil achievement. Like we simply talked about with the cookie instance, if I had not instructed and confirmed that trainer tips on how to mannequin this with cookies, would her exit ticket knowledge have been that top? If I hadn’t challenged them to grasp why ‘preserve, change, flip’ works, would her exit ticket knowledge be that top? And never essentially even the info, however would the children have truly realized what we would have liked them to be taught for that day?
So for somebody in curriculum, our day-to-day choices make all of the distinction in what goes in entrance of children. If we have now an evaluation that we write, and it is two questions too lengthy, then you’ve got college students who’ve math anxiousness as a result of the bell’s about to ring, they usually’re like, ‘I did not end my check. Now I am nervous.’ So each choice that we make as curriculum specialists impacts lecturers and college students.
What do you would like you can change about your college or the academic system right this moment?
The largest factor I might like to see is a rise in leaders who’re actually making choices for college students. And what I imply by that’s lots of occasions, as we get additional and farther from the classroom ourselves as lecturers, you possibly can start to assume extra in regards to the backside line or the greenback versus what you assume is greatest for college students. And as you get additional and additional away from the classroom, the larger and greater your position is within the decision-making. So what I might like to see is the system of schooling, the system of math, be extra centered on what’s actually greatest for college students, not what makes it snug for us.
I’ve seen lots of leaders demand excellence from their lecturers, however nobody’s there to carry them accountable as leaders. So if we’re anticipating our lecturers to rise to a selected degree of excellence, we have to do the identical for our educational leaders. And I feel, that means, we will make a dent within the system and do what’s greatest for college students.
One other one can be trainer efficacy. It is one thing that I’ve studied and researched and checked out alone. When a trainer comes into the classroom with math anxiousness or a dislike for math — and that is actually what actually occurs — that pours into college students. So now we’re elevating a brand new era of scholars who nonetheless hate coming to math class. After they come to math class, they’ll say, ‘I am simply anxious. I can not do math.’ And you will hear youngsters say that: ‘I am not a math particular person. I can not do that.’ We have to [invest in] our lecturers extra, all of our lecturers — I am very a fan of math — however we have to lower pupil math trauma by rising our personal efficacy as lecturers.
Your position possible offers you distinctive entry and perception into right this moment’s youth. What’s one factor you’ve got realized about younger folks by means of your work?
We do not give younger folks sufficient credit score. I hear lecturers say extra occasions than not what the scholars cannot do. However in case you allow them to discuss, in case you truly type a line of communication along with your infants and allow them to discuss, they’re going to inform you greater than you assume they know. Lecturers must belief their college students extra, particularly math lecturers. They know greater than we give them credit score for. And I feel if we nurture that, we’ll be capable of see a way more well-rounded pupil.