2021 Elementary Mathematics Specialist Scholarship Recipient
Carolyn Anderson
Gurnee, IL
Biography
Carolyn Anderson is in her 18th year in the field of education. She is currently a PreK-12 Math Curriculum & Instruction Specialist and Instructional Coach in Round Lake, Illinois, a Title I District. She came to this position with an excitement for helping teachers prepare students for the future; providing quality professional development, coaching, and supporting classroom teachers. She has a firm belief that improving elementary level instruction provides solid footing for instructional impact through upper grades, resulting in improved district outcome; immensely important following a year of remote instruction and learning. For 15 years prior she taught 6th, 7th, & 8th grade math to 6th grade students in a Title I school. This experience provided the foundational background to her work today.
She graduated from Purdue University (1986) with a Bachelor of Science in Consumer Science & Retail, later changing careers graduating from National Louis University (2005) with a Master of Arts in Teaching (K-9, Math, SS, Business/Marketing/Management endorsements), and later pursued additional graduate education for EL and Gifted education endorsements. In 2017 after a reflective deep dive into her own instructional practices, she pursued and achieved National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification in math! Knowing she wanted to teach from the time she was in second grade she has a deeply rooted passion for education, specifically math. She is not afraid to think outside of the box or learn new things, which led her to pursue her Elementary Math Specialist certification through the University of Wisconsin - Stout. Ultimately, she truly loves empowering all minds: her own, those she coaches and all students. She envisions this opportunity to learn as a challenge to improve learning for all students!
Carolyn is both grateful and ecstatic to be a 2021 AMTE Elementary Mathematics Specialist scholarship recipient, and looks forward to enhancing her skills and knowledge of strategies, intervention, and enrichment for teaching early child and elementary mathematics.