Teachers provide learning communities grounded in love, which allow students to learn, grow, fail, and thrive as their authentic selves.“
Allie’s Story
Growing up, Allie held a variety of jobs that focused on working with children: babysitter, camp counselor, tutor and coach. She was always excited and stimulated by the opportunity to interact with children and to help them learn. It wasn’t until later that she honed in on her desire to become a math teacher. While she enjoyed math, she saw the lack of confidence many of her peers had about math. Allie felt passionate about debunking the myth of needing to be a “math person” to succeed in learning math. She began asking questions about why many people walk away from school wary or fearful of mathematics, and specifically what role a teacher can play to challenge that false “math person” narrative and create new positive experiences for their students.
Allie earned a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from The College of Wooster and a Master of Arts in Educational Mathematics from Otterbein University. Allie has taught courses across the high school math curriculum including Integrated Math I, II, and III, as well as Advanced Placement Calculus AB and International Baccalaureate Analysis and Approaches SL.
Throughout her time as a Knowles Teaching Fellow, Allie felt most impacted by the learning and collaborating she did around teacher identity and student status. She has been reflecting on these ideas ever since, through classroom inquiry, work with other Fellows, collaborating with colleagues, and research.
Allie is the Math Department Chair in her building and is currently working with her colleagues to improve their practices through the lens of culturally responsive teaching and increasing writing skills across all content areas. Allie also is a member of the Professional Learning and Growth team in her building, which is responsible for designing, organizing, and implementing staff professional development. This group has been on a long-term journey of building trusting relationships within the school and fostering the staff’s ability to consistently reflect on their practices on a deeper level. Allie believes that Knowles gave her the tools and confidence to grow as a teacher leader within her learning community.
When she isn’t teaching, Allie likes to be active and sees exercise as her favorite form of stress relief and mood-boosting. She also enjoys trying out new recipes with her friends and family.