2023 Elementary Math Specialist Scholarship
Molly McEldowney
Biography
I currently work as a math support teacher for Berwyn South School District 100. Berwyn is a near west suburb of Chicago and our amazing school is a Dual Language Spanish-English school. I've spent 12 of my last 16 years teaching here, principally as a Kindergarten teacher. My young students and the roadblocks they encountered in math really sparked my interest in mathematics instruction. I love working through misconceptions and guiding my elementary students toward meaningful math tasks and understandings.
I previously studied Spanish at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and pursued a teaching certificate and MAT from Northeastern Illinois University with bilingual bicultural elementary specializations. I've been fortunate enough to have immersive study abroad experiences in Cuernavaca, Mexico and Granada, Spain that pushed me to attain fluency in Spanish. Applying that to my elementary and now math support instruction has been invaluable. I find that dual Spanish and English language instruction is an equitable practice to which I am dedicated for the duration of my teaching career.
Professionally, I've also lead a Math Core team in my building for the past 5 years and participated in various trainings, webinars, and book studies through ICTM, Illinois Council for Teachers of Mathematics. Studying now at the University of Illinois Chicago for a Math Specialist Elementary endorsement is exciting and practical. Each week, I am learning and applying new math methods and strategies with my student groups. Alongside my family, I am so grateful to the AMTE for this scholarship. I look forward to extending and sharing my knowledge to my colleagues in Berwyn South and beyond.