EMS Scholarship 2016 Recipient
Kristine Schmitt
Buncombe County Schools,
Asheville, NC
Kristine Schmitt is a District Elementary Mathematics Coach in Asheville, North Carolina. She previously taught 3rd grade at W. W. Estes Elementary School for 15 years, followed by a year as an Elementary Instructional Coach for two elementary schools. During her time at Estes, Kristine began serving on the District Math team which allowed her to deepen her understanding of the standards, look at the progression of concepts, facilitate student discourse and provide opportunities for productive struggle with her students. Through her experiences with District Math, she became a mathematical leader at the school level. Kristine participated and co-facilitated Developing Mathematical Ideas workshops at her school, implemented Studio classroom experiences and organized a math EdCamp. The leadership experiences at the school level prepared her for her next role as Instructional Coach.
Kristine is currently finishing the Elementary School Mathematics Graduate Certificate Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The coursework in this program is designed to broaden teachers’ content knowledge for mathematics, improve selection of cognitively demanding tasks, facilitate student discourse and utilize formative assessments to drive instruction. Engaging in mathematical tasks focused on algebra, geometry, data, probability and fractions allowed Kristine to see the progression of those topics from Kindergarten to 5th grade. Reading research, working through tasks and connecting ideas to the standards gave her a deeper level of mathematical understanding that she will be able to pass along to the teachers she works with in the coming year.
Kristine would like to express her deepest thanks to AMTE for the Elementary Mathematics Specialist Scholarship which has allowed her to continue on this mathematical learning journey!