In 2009, Claudia received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Science and Mathematics Teachers, a $175,000 grant over the course of five years designed to give outstanding North Carolina classroom teachers resources to enhance professional development and collaboration with other teachers. With that five years wrapping up in 2014, we thought it would be a good time to check in and take stock with Claudia, and recognize her noteworthy achievements in mathematics education.
Transcription of “Interview with Claudia Walker”
00;00;03;08 – 00;00;41;19
Ernie Hood
Welcome to Focus In Sound Podcast series from the Focus newsletter published by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. I’m your host, science writer Ernie Hood. On this edition of Focus In Sound, we meet an elementary school mathematics teacher who is spearheading innovation in math education through her activities both in and out of the classroom. Claudia Walker is a fifth grade teacher at Murphy Traditional Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina, a magnet K through five school in the Guilford County schools, where Latin is taught and mathematical skills are emphasized.
00;00;42;06 – 00;01;08;02
Ernie Hood
She has been a classroom teacher since 1992. She is a national board certified teacher and has been teaching math and science at Murphy for the last six years. She holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in education, curriculum and technology from the University of Phenix. In 2009, Claudia received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career award for Science and Mathematics Teachers.
00;01;08;14 – 00;01;37;12
Ernie Hood
A $175,000 grant over the course of five years, designed to give outstanding North Carolina classroom teachers resources to enhance professional development and collaboration with other teachers. With that five years wrapping up in 2014, we thought it would be a good time to check in and take stock with Claudia and recognize her noteworthy achievements in mathematics education. Claudia Welcome to Focus In Sound.
00;01;37;22 – 00;01;38;11
Claudia Walker
I thank you.
00;01;39;14 – 00;01;58;25
Ernie Hood
Your school is one of six in North Carolina that are starting to teach math using the Singapore method on a pilot basis. Thanks to funding from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Tell us about the Singapore method and how it differs from the mathematics teaching. We all grew up with.
00;01;59;23 – 00;02;28;16
Claudia Walker
Well, Singapore math, as we have been introduced to it, we’ve been learning that there are strategies, not necessarily a curriculum. The strategy that helps children basically learn math and are more hands on more conceptual level. And one of the things that we make sure that the kids do as we’re learning Singapore math is that they have to make sure that they’re learning the math in a concrete way first, which means hands on visual as much as possible so that the kids understand the math concept.
00;02;29;04 – 00;02;52;27
Claudia Walker
And then from there we go to pictorial. The kids are able to draw pictures that go with their math. Visualize a math use diagram that helps them understand the math. And then after that, we go to a which is abstract. So the method we push is called CPA. So it’s concrete and then pictorial and then abstract. And by doing this, it’s different the way we did when we were kids.
00;02;52;27 – 00;03;10;11
Claudia Walker
Because when we were kids, it was very procedural. We didn’t have a complete understanding of the math we were doing. We learned that we had to carry the one we learned that we had to borrow. We learned all of those terms and we were able to do it. But a lot of us basically grew up learning the procedure.
00;03;10;24 – 00;03;35;17
Claudia Walker
And when it came to using math and applying math in real life, such as in chemistry or in engineering or physics, we were lost because we didn’t understand the math concepts. So Singapore math, I think is revolutionizing math, teaching. It goes hand in hand with Common Core because Common Core is also asking us to teach the children the concepts behind the math, not necessarily just the procedures.
00;03;36;16 – 00;03;49;15
Ernie Hood
So when we were growing up, we really learned mainly by rote. And this is really instilling those those concepts, those mathematical concepts at a very early age. Then.
00;03;50;07 – 00;04;14;15
Claudia Walker
Yes, in kindergarten through second grade, we really push and stress the fact that the kids should be learning the base ten number system. They need to learn how to work with them. They need to know that working with the number ten helps them develop mental math skills and abilities that will then help them be able to solve problems without stumbling over the computation.
00;04;14;24 – 00;04;17;19
Ernie Hood
So how did you learn about the Singapore method? Claudia?
00;04;18;12 – 00;04;37;24
Claudia Walker
Well, I had attended a Singapore math conference that was provided by staff development for educators. And when I attended the conference, I realized that this was something that if I had learned maths way, perhaps my career path would have been different. I was one of the students in the class that would struggle with math. I didn’t understand all of it.
00;04;37;24 – 00;04;54;23
Claudia Walker
I memorized things. I was great with my timetables, but when it came time to really apply it, I was lost. I was confused. I didn’t want to admit that. I didn’t know how to do it. So when I saw the conference and what they were presenting, I said, this is something that I think that the kids in my school would really benefit from.
00;04;55;03 – 00;05;07;20
Claudia Walker
I talked to the folks at Burroughs Wellcome, and they told me that they were planning on implementing a pilot program in North Carolina with Singapore Math. And I definitely wanted to make sure that my school and my students would benefit from that.
00;05;08;08 – 00;05;13;25
Ernie Hood
Excellent. So, Claudio, where does this all stand currently at your school?
00;05;14;09 – 00;05;38;00
Claudia Walker
This is our third year of implementation. We have implemented kindergarten and first was our first year. The second year we had kindergarten, first and second. And then this year we have included third grade. This is the year that we are going to be testing the students. Their EOG test should show us an increase in their numbers skills, and that’s what we’re hoping for.
00;05;38;18 – 00;05;43;25
Ernie Hood
So how’s it going with the kids? Does it seem to be working or is it still too soon to tell?
00;05;44;26 – 00;06;08;03
Claudia Walker
The kids have shown remarkable improvement with their number skills. And I am a fifth grade teacher and I work and coach the teachers that are implementing this in their classrooms. And when I talk to the teachers in kindergarten and first grade especially, they’re seeing that this is the way to go, that this is this program helps the kids really develop the numbers skills.
00;06;08;20 – 00;06;39;28
Claudia Walker
They’re telling me that the students are really articulating their math more clearly. They’re understanding the basic concepts. They’re able to explain what they’re doing, and they’re really not so much memorizing their facts the way we did, but are actually able to explain the massive they’re actually doing. So I’ve seen a tremendous change. That was one of the things I was worried about when I first thought about the program and brought the program to Murphy when we applied for it.
00;06;40;12 – 00;07;11;24
Claudia Walker
But my principal and I said that if this was something that would change the way our kids think, that this is something that we wanted to do here at Murphy. My biggest concern was teacher buy in, because of course they would be the ones that would be in the trenches, so to speak, with this program and making sure that the kids are learning it so one of the things I did was I met with the teachers every week during their march, planning time to talk about how they’re teaching the math.
00;07;12;06 – 00;07;35;16
Claudia Walker
What methods are they using? And a lot of the questions I would always get from them is, are we doing this right and how do we know we’re doing this right? So it was a little bit of a struggle at first. And they really we built a I guess, a system of trust between all of us that we would help each other regardless of whether we felt comfortable teaching this, that we would support each other.
00;07;36;02 – 00;07;55;11
Claudia Walker
So we did that. We met every week, we talked, we found articles, we communicated with another school that was also implementing it, and the teachers became more and more comfortable, so much so that now in the third year of implementation, a few of the first grade teachers are ready to train other teachers and what they’re doing in their classrooms.
00;07;56;00 – 00;08;13;25
Ernie Hood
Well, that sense of teacher buying is so very important in any new educational initiative. So it’s wonderful that you’re being able to accomplish that and get that enthusiasm back from the the folks as you say, in the trenches who are going to need to implement.
00;08;14;22 – 00;08;29;09
Claudia Walker
And they like it. They they say the same thing I said when I first started, and I wish I had learned math this way, too. It would have been a different test for me, perhaps, or or even the path that we took as teachers. We would be teaching the children differently in the past years that we had been teaching.
00;08;29;21 – 00;08;53;03
Claudia Walker
So it’s changed our way of teaching. It’s changed our approach to teaching math. We do a lot more of the eight mathematical practices that have been brought by Common Core. We had started to do that before Guilford County actually implemented Common Core. The perseverance to solving problems different ways. The talking about math and being able to defend their thinking.
00;08;53;12 – 00;08;56;15
Claudia Walker
All of this has changed the way we teach math in our classroom in this.
00;08;57;25 – 00;09;11;12
Ernie Hood
Claudia, as this is a pilot program, what metrics will you and the other schools who are using it use to monitor the program’s progress or success? Will there be a control group, for example.
00;09;11;12 – 00;09;22;11
Claudia Walker
As survey number, as well as working with a company that is going to look at the tests as a standardized testing results and be able to compare it to a school that is similar in demographics to our own.
00;09;23;27 – 00;09;33;18
Ernie Hood
Claudia Do you see it as likely or even inevitable that the Singapore method will eventually be adopted throughout North Carolina schools or even nationally?
00;09;34;18 – 00;09;51;29
Claudia Walker
I definitely see that only because of the implementation of Common Core in the state of North Carolina. Singapore math is very in tune and in line with the Common Core standards for mathematics in the sense that it asks us to go deeper and teach more conceptually.
00;09;52;20 – 00;10;03;25
Ernie Hood
Do you see this as one way to start to close the achievement gap between U.S. students and their international counterparts in countries like Singapore?
00;10;04;13 – 00;10;34;07
Claudia Walker
Absolutely. We have the ability to turn around the way that people see math. One of the things I’ve always said is people would never say to you, I don’t know how to read, but anybody will always say to you, well, I’m not very good at math. And that’s one of the mentality that I think that we have the ability from the ground up, from elementary school up, that we can change with our students, that they shouldn’t leave my classroom saying, oh, I don’t like math or even I don’t know how to do math.
00;10;34;20 – 00;10;41;05
Claudia Walker
Same exact way that they would leave a reading classroom saying, I know how to read versus I don’t know how to read.
00;10;42;13 – 00;10;54;09
Ernie Hood
Claudia, what has the career award allowed you to do over the course of the past five years that you might otherwise have been unable to do either in the classroom or in your own professional development?
00;10;54;28 – 00;11;24;11
Claudia Walker
Well, only the career award from Burrows Wellcome has really given me the freedom to really explore the vast amount of professional development for teachers, especially one like me who enjoys science and math. Without the award, I wouldn’t have attended as many math conferences and science conferences and Common Core conferences because of the financial burden on it. Not only is it the travel expenses, the registration fee, but also substitutes here at school.
00;11;24;22 – 00;11;53;20
Claudia Walker
And as a result of the grant too, I was able to take teachers with me. And of course, I would not have been able to do that. Having the career award has allowed me to network to meet colleagues that are like minded and that have a passion for teaching kids and to making sure that the next generation science standards and the Common Core is not going to be just another program that is coming through in education, that it’s something that we believe in.
00;11;54;01 – 00;12;25;06
Claudia Walker
I think that making sure that the kids are learning more critically, to learn how to think critically, to learn, have to explain what they’re doing. I think that that’s something that we really need to work on. And because of the grant, I was able to work with people who knew this, to work with people who agree with this, and then to make sure that here at my school, I was able to again get more staff members to go and to also see the changes that are coming and how we can be a big part of that.
00;12;26;04 – 00;12;34;14
Ernie Hood
So ultimately the grant allowed you opportunities to make yourself and those around you better teachers.
00;12;35;10 – 00;12;58;00
Claudia Walker
Yes, I have a technology team that I pretty much take with me to the different conferences and the idea of it was for them to learn how to use technology in the classroom and then be able to train other teachers here at school with how to use it and not just how to get on the website and go to a game or things like that.
00;12;58;00 – 00;13;36;13
Claudia Walker
But to actually have the kids using technology to further their thinking or to be able to explore ideas or even share ideas. So I was able to get Chromebooks from my classroom and the kids collaborate on projects. They’re also able to watch video training. For example, if I’m teaching division and one of the students is just not getting the concept, then I would direct them to a video that furthers their that concept so that I can also work with other kids while they’re getting retrained, so to speak, with that particular skill, that kind of use of technology and more thoughtful use of technology.
00;13;36;13 – 00;13;39;09
Claudia Walker
Not necessarily, like I said, just visiting a website.
00;13;40;08 – 00;13;45;21
Ernie Hood
Right? Some not like the old days when the teachers would show you a movie for an hour, right?
00;13;46;11 – 00;14;02;01
Claudia Walker
Exactly. But now we can show a movie and we can have the kids use that channeling on different programs. I could moto that, they could answer questions that we posted for them during the movie. So those interaction during the movie, instead of just sitting there taking notes.
00;14;02;27 – 00;14;27;00
Ernie Hood
Wonderful. In addition to the career reward this year, of course, you were one of 63 K-through-12 teachers in North Carolina to receive a presume or promoting innovation in science and mathematics grant from the Burroughs Wellcome fund. I understand that you will use your 30 $400 award to promote fitness among your students and their families in some innovative ways.
00;14;27;08 – 00;14;29;20
Ernie Hood
Tell us more about your present funded program.
00;14;30;19 – 00;14;50;29
Claudia Walker
Well, only one of the things that we teach in fifth grade is the human body and how the different body systems interact with each other and depend on each other in order to function. And in fourth grade, the curriculum is for the students to learn about how to stay healthy and how to stay fit and nutrition. So what we thought about doing is having a day.
00;14;50;29 – 00;15;18;26
Claudia Walker
We already have a wellness program here at Murphy where the kids get fruit and vegetables every day from another grant, and we thought of tying that in with our curriculum and we would have the kids learn how to use the equipment that’s in our playground, being able to train the younger students, how to use the equipment effectively, not just to jump over, etc., but actually use it to do sit ups or to do pull ups or things that are a little bit more active.
00;15;19;08 – 00;15;44;19
Claudia Walker
And then our fifth graders would be researching and preparing packets that they can send home with every child that has a little bag with a jump rope, a pedometer, something that would help the kids get more active at home with their families. And we would have a wellness fair here at school where we would present the bags and the program and perhaps even have something like a million step walk where they can walk a certain path.
00;15;45;04 – 00;15;51;07
Claudia Walker
And at each station they would stop and do a different exercise that has been researched by our students doing that.
00;15;51;07 – 00;16;15;11
Ernie Hood
That sounds like a great program. And you know, something that will make those fitness elements great fun for the kids and their families. Well, Claudia, your passion for and commitment to the work you’re doing really shines through. Where does that come from and how do you keep it fresh? I mean, after more than 20 years, too many teachers, as we all know, start showing signs of burnout.
00;16;15;12 – 00;16;18;22
Ernie Hood
How do you keep it fresh?
00;16;18;22 – 00;16;40;22
Claudia Walker
And I think about that a lot, Ernie, because one of the things that one of the reasons that I came into teaching was because I didn’t want to be in an office that had the 9 to 5 drudgery and boring to me. I did not want to do that. And because teaching is different all the time and because the students are different all the time, every year I get them.
00;16;41;04 – 00;17;13;07
Claudia Walker
I always want to make sure that my kids, especially since they are from a disadvantaged school, receive as much information as possible to make them as competitive as their peers in more resource rich schools than ours. So that’s one of the things that I always want to do. I want to make sure my kids have that competitive edge that they’re not going to get to middle school and high school and see something for the first time that perhaps I had the opportunity to show them here.
00;17;13;25 – 00;17;22;20
Claudia Walker
And that’s one of the reasons I make sure that I’m always looking for something new. I’m always wanting them to try something new, and I want to show them what’s out there for them.
00;17;23;16 – 00;17;40;00
Ernie Hood
Claudia, you are doing some great and important work. We’re at counts most down there in the trenches, working every day to give children the highest possible quality education. We wish you the best of luck for continued success. And thanks so much for joining us today on Focus In Sound.
00;17;40;20 – 00;17;41;29
Claudia Walker
Thanks, Ernie. I appreciate it.
00;17;42;21 – 00;18;04;12
Ernie Hood
We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of the Focus In Sound podcast. Until next time. This is Ernie Hood. Thanks for listening.
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