Elizabeth “Jean” Bingham, an MIT (Mathematics Intervention Teacher) at Central Elementary, was one of seven recipients of the Northern Kentucky University Trailblazer Award for Mathematics Education during a presentation by NKU President Mearns on September 29 in Somerset, Kentucky.
“The Trailblazer Award is recognition of those citizens throughout the state who are changing lives through new and innovative education programs,” shares NKU President Geoffrey S. Mearns. “With improved math skills…Kentucky’s children will be better prepared to meet the demands of this century.”
Bingham explains that in her eight years of continued professional learning through Math Recovery and the KCM (Kentucky Center for Mathematics), she has changed the way she thinks about how students learn mathematics and has transformed her practice to focus on student thinking.
In reflecting back on her teaching journey, Bingham notes that as her teaching improved, her students gained confidence in their abilities as learners and as a result, have been better able to explain their deep mathematical thinking in the regular classroom.
Bingham has also helped hundreds of teachers understand and apply new ways to assist students in developing strong number sense. She has sought out opportunities for continued professional learning and leads training for preschool, primary grades, and intermediate grades teachers in her school, district, region, and the state.
In addition, Bingham has presented popular sessions for national and state conferences, and most recently, was a valuable contributor to the Kentucky Department of Education webinar series on early mathematics, which was released in June 2014.
Bingham states that she wishes every school in Kentucky could have a Math Recovery teacher so no student goes unchallenged in the classroom and so no teacher goes untrained in the ways that a student best learns mathematics.