Math Recovery

Dear Math Recovery® Council Members,

With great enthusiasm, I write to inform you of a special honor for two members of our Math Recovery® Community. Dr. Jonathan Thomas and Dr. Pamela Tabor will be awarded the Linking Research and Practice Outstanding Publication. In 2010 the National Council of Teacher of Mathematics Research Committee began recognizing one article annually from each of its three school journals, Teaching Children Mathematics, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, and Mathematics Teacher. The award is given to outstanding work that connects research and practice and is targeted to practitioner audiences. Drs. Thomas and Tabor?s winning submission, "Developing Quantitative Mental Imagery," was published in Teaching Children Mathematics, October 2012.

Both Dr. Thomas and Dr. Tabor have foundational roots in Math Recovery® professional development and continue to impact the Math Recovery® community with their research and instructional efforts.

Dr. Thomas is Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education at Northern Kentucky University and Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education as part of Kentucky Center for Mathematics faculty. His current work centers on the Stages of Early Arithmetic Learning (SEAL) and seeks to answer the question, "Can pre-service teachers become good professional noticers?" I eagerly anticipate the results of Math Recovery® influence on the pre-service group in his study. May they experience the transformative results of Math Recovery® that impact their future students!

Dr. Tabor is Gifted and Talented teacher, specializing in mathematics, for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students. She also teaches research methodology to Level 4 elementary students (those that are two standard deviations above the norm) in Maryland. Dr. Tabor is using Math Recovery® strategies to work with reluctant learners to meet the Common Core State Standard for Mathematics, with a special interest in those who are under the Autism Spectrum Disorder umbrella.

A particular curiosity about the Figurative Stage in SEAL fueled the research of Dr. Thomas and Dr. Tabor. Many of us have encountered students throughout our careers that seem to get stuck in perceptual thinking and struggle to develop more sophisticated quantitative reasoning. I encourage you to read (or reread) the article and try some of the tasks that Drs. Thomas and Tabor present. A personal favorite task for Dr. Thomas is the linear imaging task with the toys. I appreciate the range of tasks from very emergent object imagery to using mental imagery in early counting and multiplicative reasoning tasks. Certainly "Developing Quantitative Mental Imagery" will help unravel some of the mystery associated with the Figurative Stage.

The award-winning submission is easily accessible with your NCTM membership. Simply log into your account at NCTM.org, and enter "TCM October 2012" in the search bar. Follow the links to locate and download a copy of "Developing Quantitative Mental Imagery." If you are not a member, please contact the office to view a copy of the article.

Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Thomas and Dr. Pamela Tabor! The US Math Recovery® Council is proud of your accomplishments and honored to have you in our learning community.

Wishing you the best,

Carolyn Olijnek
Chief Executive Officer
US Math Recovery® Council