Ashley Smith
East Calloway Elementary
Calloway County
Teaching 10 Years
Typically serves about 20 students per week

What made you decide to become an educator?
I decided to become an educator because I have a strong desire to see everyone around me working to their full potential….to bring out the best of each person. By teaching children, I am able to instill that same desire at an early age. Children’s excitement and energy about learning is contagious, and I love being in that environment.

What excites you most about being an MAF Mathematics Intervention Teacher?
The thing that excites me the most about being an MIT is seeing students' math anxiety disappear because of confidence they build during our time together.

What differences have you seen in your students since they began receiving intervention assistance?
The biggest difference I have seen is that students are truly understanding relationship in number instead of trying to follow a set of rules.

What is one, favorite story or “a-ha!” moment you’ve had with one (or more) of your intervention students?
My favorite memory is when I was observing one of my Math Recovery students in his homeroom and he was the only one in his class who knew the answer and could explain his thinking to a higher-order-thinking problem. That moment has consumed me and proved to me how important individualized instruction impacts students.

What does the MAF and the Kentucky Center for Mathematics mean to you?
Through the training I have received because of the MAF grant, my mathematical thinking has completely changed. But, the learning hasn't stopped with me. Not only do I work with students, but I have had the privilege of working alongside the teachers at my school and I get to see the impact of my training in a whole classroom setting. This shift in our thinking would not have happened without the MAF grant. Our students are better because of it.

KCM gives me the support I need by offering many wonderful learning experiences through training, online meetings with other MIT's, and by having a Regional Coordinator that guides me and listens to all of my praises and struggles.

What advice would you give to a colleague or other educator if they had never attended a KCM professional learning experience before?
DO IT! GO! You won't regret it. Again, the learning doesn't stop with you… it reaches to other teachers and students.

What activities, organizations, hobbies, etc. do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I enjoy playing outside with my two- and four-year old sons (especially when it snows) and traveling to unique places.

What is your favorite pizza topping?
Ham and pineapple.

What was your favorite childhood television show?
Power Rangers! (I pretended I was the pink Ranger)

Got any good or favorite math jokes?
Parallel lines have so much in common…it’s a shame they will never meet. (Puns are my favorite ☺)