Built for Teachers, By Teachers

During my first few years in the classroom, the learning curve felt incredibly steep, and I remember how heavily I relied on my textbook to guide my instruction and decision-making. That experience has stayed with me as I work on California Reveal Math. When I write or edit a series of questions, craft sample responses, or develop “listen-tos” in student thinking, I intentionally put myself back in the shoes of a first-year teacher. I reread each lesson and ask myself this series of questions: Does this sequence of questions show a clear progression of understanding? Does it highlight what is mathematically important and worth responding to? Does it anticipate common misconceptions so they can be addressed in the moment? My goal is to make each lesson feel like a supportive partner—just as my textbook once was for me so that new teachers feel guided, confident, and equipped to respond to student thinking with purpose.

Before this chapter of my career, I spent 14 years in public education as an English language arts and reading teacher, a coach, and eventually an assistant principal. Those years formed me in ways no title or professional development ever could. Education has a way of sanding down the sharp edges of certainty. It teaches you quickly that children are rarely defined by the worst thing they have done or the hardest thing they have survived.

People outside education often measure growth in charts, percentages, and color-coded reports. Educators know growth can look far different than that. Sometimes it is the first fragile glimpse of belief in a future that once felt out of reach. Every partnership we build and every conversation we have with districts holds the possibility of changing a student’s story.