Math with Ms. Woodruff
Empowering students through mathematics education
About me
I’ve come a long way from teaching colors and numbers to my stuffed animals, but I never lost the sense of fulfillment from leading someone to a little more clarity, curiosity, and confidence.
My passion for education - especially as a means of empowerment - became more formalized when peers and schoolmates asked for my help with the ACT after I had scored a 36. Of course I jumped at the chance, not only because I knew I could help, but also because I understood the lasting significance of test scores like these. Neither of my parents had attended college, but many of my friends’ parents had - and I noticed the difference in available career paths and financial safety. I didn’t want a standardized test standing in anyone’s way of a better future.
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I noticed plenty more inequity as an undergrad at Duke and grad student at Northwestern, but was (and am) grateful for interesting and paradigm-shifting courses in psychology, mathematics, storytelling, social contexts, and education - in theory as well as practice - that have allowed me to tip the scales toward equity in my communities.
If you check out my resume, you might notice my strong ties to Chicago - I grew up outside Chicago, lived in the city for eight years, and forever hold so much love for my family and community there. But in an act of self-care, I’m finally living out my California dream in the East Bay, joined by my husband and two dogs and restored by time spent in the ocean and mountains.
my philosophy
Education, at its best, is a practice of love and liberation. It’s engaging, relevant, and energizing. It builds community and empathy. It expands.
Learning, at its best, is doing. Learning math looks and sounds like writing out equations, sketching graphs, and interpreting scenarios. It’s developing conjectures about math, testing them out, and laughing at your own mistakes. It’s asking how someone else is trying to solve the problem and weighing their ideas against reason.
Education is not the passing down of facts. It is construction, and we all construct and connect in different ways. This is why we pause to notice whose voices are heard, whose are missing, and what we might all lose out on as a result. The best learners encourage others to share and are mindful of their own contributions. (And the best teachers create a space where everyone feels welcome to share, and are mindful of power dynamics.)
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Math, at its best, is an expression of creativity and connection. Good math is deep, not fast. Good mathematicians live and work in communities, not ivory towers. Everyone is a mathematician, even if they - or you - have been taught otherwise.
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I believe deeply in the transformative power of education and the community that a thoughtfully-crafted learning environment creates.
and practice
I’ve been tutoring since 2007 and have always loved it, though knowingly participating in a system that perpetuates inequity never sat quite right with me. This led to me earning my Masters, becoming a teacher, and then working at Northside Prep, a Chicago public school for four years. It was here that I became practiced in the IMP curriculum and developed a deep and enduring appreciation for groupwork.
Though I love my students and colleagues at Northside, teaching wasn’t sustainable for me and a move to the Bay Area was also in order. To balance my needs and ideals, I’m tutoring full time and devoting ¼ - â…“ of my time to students in the scholarship program - students who are just as deserving but without the means to afford tutoring.