Bio
Kate Belin, a Youngstown, NY native, teaches at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, where 90 percent of entering 9th graders do not meet state standards in math or English. The school is ranked 10th from the bottom among all New York City public high schools. Yet, Belin “gets students who don’t know the multiplication table to understand complex mathematical concepts,” said Kelly Gaddis, Professor of Math Education at Bard College.A former student neatly sums up the essence of Belin’s teaching style: “She [Belin] makes me see that math has connections to the real world, and it’s going to be with me every day of my life.”Belin has tailored experiential teaching to her class curriculum and placed emphasis on questioning and evaluating problems – not simply on formulas and solving equations – helping her students think about issues in mathematics for the first time in their lives. “It’s worth noting that at least one of Ms. Belin’s students per year goes on to be a math major in college,” said Gaddis.
