Annual Conference

Catherine Fosnot is the Founding Director of Mathematics in the City and Professor of Education at The City College of New York.  She has twice received the "best writing" award from AERA's Constructivist SIG and she was the recipient of the "young scholar" award by Educational Communication and Technology Journal.  Professor Fosnot is the author of several books and numerous articles on Constructivism, Mathematics Education, and general Teacher Education.  She is the lead author of the Contexts for Learning Mathematics series as well as the Young Mathematicians at Work series.  Fosnot and her staff have designed and researched an inservice program for elementary mathematics education in which classrooms are turned into workshops with learners engaged in inquiry, subsequently proving and communicating their thinking to their peers.   Professor Fosnot is also known for her research on the development of young children's understanding of probability, and the development of number sense and operation.   In 2005 she was awarded the CCNY Outstanding Teacher Award.

Brian P. Cleary grew up reading the bouncy rhymes of Dr. Seuss.  A frustrated student and reluctant learner, Brian daydreamed from class to class until being introduced to poetry in third grade.  Intrigued, he set on a course to explore the wonder of words.  Brian began his professional creative endeavors early, when as a fifth grader he sold a joke to a radio station in Cleveland.  He earned a degree in communications from John Carroll University, and is now senior editor of the humor staff for American Greetings, one of the five largest creative divisions in the world.  In addition, he has written cartoon gags that have appeared in more than 600 newspapers worldwide, published humor essays for national and local magazines and newspapers, and created many children's books, including the popular titles in his Math Is CATegorical and Words Are CATegoricalTM series, which have sold more than 1 million copies.  As a humorist, writer, and poet, Brian P. Cleary shows kids how to play with words. He believes that humor is not only a fun way to learn, but an effective way to teach.

Laney Sammons is the author of Guided Math: A Framework for Mathematics Instruction, as well as numerous other books on mathematics education.  Her extensive work with children started when she was the director of a Youth Services Program at Mercer University.  In 1989, she began her career as an educator.  Over the years, she has taught in elementary grades, in middle grades, in a high school in-school suspension program, and in college. She was named Teacher of the Year for her county in 2000.  For the last five years prior to her retirement, she served as an Instructional Coach helping her school system implement Guided Math.

During her years in the classroom, Ms. Sammons developed the Guided Math framework as a way of meeting the needs of all of her students - from the struggling learners to those who quickly mastered concepts and needed additional challenges.  When this approach was implemented school-wide at her school, the results were not only increased passage rates on the state tests, but also increases in the percentage of students who exceeded the standards.

Sandy Atkins, Ph. D., is the Executive Director of Creating AHAs, LLC.   An inspiring speaker, Dr. Atkins is committed to finding those ‘aha moments’ when mathematical connections are made by teachers and students.  Her sessions are thought provoking and practical.