WMS teacher to use Fulbright Award to improve female confidence, competence in math
Last summer, Westfield Middle School math teacher Kelly Day traveled throughout Asia observing classrooms in five top-performing Asian nations through a Lilly Endowment Fellowship. Next spring, Day will travel to Finland to study math classrooms and work with other teachers and students. She was chosen as one of 43 teachers across the nation to represent the U.S. Dept. of Education in the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching program.
“It’s such a great honor,” she said. “I love teaching. I want to stay in the classroom by learning how to improve instructional experiences.”
This summer, Day will travel to Washington, D.C., to get trained as an ambassador of the U.S. DOE and begin her research into the psychology of female development.
“In third grade, girls start to fall behind the boys,” she said. “Math is used in every field. Cross-curricular education is so important. I’m constantly doing economics, business work and engineering (in my lessons).”
Day said the Fulbright Award is an international program where teachers create a research project and select a foreign country to study, live and teach in that is conducive to the research.
“They produce some of the top results across the board. They are so completely different than the United States,” Day said, adding Finland uses all project based learning lessons. “They have very limited testing and very little standardized testing. There’s not a lot assigned curriculum and a lot of teacher choice.”
Day said she’s not sure what to expect in Finland.
“My students think it’s going to be like ‘Frozen,’” she said. “I hope to see the Northern Lights; I’ll be pretty busy working non-stop.”
While her data can be accessed by teachers and presented to the U.S. DOE, Day said she plans to apply it in her classroom and across the district.
“I’m not going to change our system overnight. Finland is one of very few countries where girls perform better than boys in mathematics. What are they doing differently to support female development in this area?” she said.
Day believes that part of the reason is psychology.
“They are so well focused especially in the lower levels,” she said. “I want to research how they are impairing girls to give them empowerment. I think the biggest issue with girls in math is the cultural issue. They think they are not going to get it.”
Day said her short-term goals include developing mathematic ideas for the district and starting a girl’s math club.
“I want to adopt a system where all students, especially girls, have the tools they need to try new things, learn from their mistakes and take ownership in their education,” she said. “My long-term goals are that I think eventually I’m going to have to write a book. I’ve had so many great experiences traveling and teaching.”
Day credits her middle school math teacher Karen Frodge with her career in education. As a seventh grade student, she was placed in sixth grade remedial math.
“I believed the lie; once I got over that it was so relieving,” she said. “She recognized that there was more to me than that. She really pushed me and that sparked the rest of my academic career. I worked really, really hard.”
Day’s teaching style is a hit with her seventh-grade students.
“She’s a really fun teacher and she teaches really well,” Griffin Pope said.
“She’s caring. She’s helped me so much this year. It’s hard to describe,” Kyle Biggerstaff said.
“She’s really great. She explains lessons that help people learn better,” said Tiffany West. “She shares stories about math problems and some songs that help us remember.”
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Project title: Breaking through the “Math Ceiling” – Helping girls gain confidence and competence in mathematics
Purpose: To give female students and teachers confidence in their abilities to think and express themselves mathematically. Day’s objective is to study the causes of the widespread gender disparity in mathematics education and learn best teaching practices from Finland.
Plan: Day hopes that studying in Finland will help her create a system of education that inspires women teachers and students. Using the teaching practices of Finland as a model, Day hopes to empower a new generation of female students and teachers to love and embrace the exciting field of mathematics.
When: Day will do research in Finland from March through June 2015.
What makes Finland unique? – Day said that only the top 10 percent of graduating classes get into teaching college in Finland and that the profession is highly regarded by its citizens. Also, 60 percent of elected officials are female. “It’s a very gender equal society,” Day said.
Research: Day will be studying sample groups of female students in the USA and in Finland. She will try to discover the student’s attitudes, opinions and overall feelings towards math with a special emphasis on how teachers and past experiences have contributed to their current perspectives. She will compare these results with the students’ corresponding teachers.
Abroad: Day also will observe and interact with math classrooms in Finland in order to see how female students are encouraged to participate and interact. While in Finland, she will combine all of her findings into a comprehensive study between the cause and effect relationship between teacher opinion, anxiety, and training in mathematics and the corresponding student’s opinion of the field.
Meet Kelly Day
Age: 27
Hometown: Crawfordsville
Residence: Westfield
Education: Bachelor’s degree in math education from Indiana Wesleyan University and master’s in education administration at Purdue University.
Years teaching: Five – all at Westfield Middle School.
Hobbies: Watching the Olympics, traveling, reading and cooking.
Where to visit: I love visiting art museums when I travel.
Personal goal: “Visit 30 countries before I’m 30. It’s all about learning and new surroundings. You are opening yourself up to the fact life can be different. It’s gets you outside of your own mindset that this is how things are.”
Personal motto: “I work my hardest. I try my best because I want to honor because he’s blessed me with my profession. I really love teaching; it’s what I was created to do. It’s what I am and I can’t imagine doing anything else. I have 180 students each year. I love them and serve them to the best of my ability.”
