From Rules to Reasoning: How Math Is FigureOutAble Transformed My Teaching

We love hearing from educators who are putting Math Is FigureOutAble into practice in their classrooms. Today, we’re excited to feature a guest post from Erica Foster, Lower School Math Differentiation Specialist, who shares her journey of moving from rule-based math instruction to teaching for sense-making. Erica’s story shows the real impact that happens when teachers embrace reasoning, Problem Strings, and a belief that all students can figure out math.

A Teacher’s Story: Discovering the Joy of Math Reasoning

Before discovering Pam Harris and Math Is FigureOutAble, I was a 1st-, 2nd-, and then 4th-grade teacher yearning to teach math in a way that centered on sense-making rather than rule-learning. I remember during my teacher training reading reports on the vastly better results countries like Japan, Singapore, and China were getting in math instruction, and wanting to know how to shift my practice so I could teach with that level of success. However, finding professional development to support me on that path was incredibly frustrating. It just didn’t seem to exist in an organized, clear way.

Learning about Singapore’s bar modeling strategy helped me teach kids to interpret and model word problems better. Dr. Jo Boaler’s online courses and books helped me understand how to teach with rich problems and number talks—other huge steps forward. But I still wasn’t getting the student results I wanted, and I didn’t feel secure about what I needed to do differently as a teacher to get there. Despite my progress, there was still a canyon between me and where I believed my students and I could go.

On top of that, 11 years ago a group of parents staged a rebellion over our school’s traditional strategy of memorizing math facts using timed tests. As an independent school, it was important to us to be responsive both to their concerns and to what research was telling us about the harm our approach could cause. We stopped using timed tests; however, I still wasn’t finding the answers we needed to productively improve student numeracy.

Three years ago, I shifted into the role of Lower School Math Differentiation Specialist with a mandate to provide teacher coaching and leadership in all areas of math for grades 1–4. My need for answers was greater than ever. In my first year in this new role, I stumbled upon Math Is FigureOutAble and took the Developing Mathematical Reasoning course. Finally. There. It. Was. The bridge over the canyon—the way forward.

Here was Pam Harris completely affirming my belief that math learning should be built on sense-making, while at the same time taking it even farther than I thought possible. In that workshop, I came to understand what my engineer, calculus-loving father had always loved about math and what I had never before discovered: math is something we reason through and understand—and when we do, it is so. Much. FUN. This was a reachable goal I could aspire to, and it was one I could offer to my students and fellow teachers.

After taking every free offering Math Is FigureOutAble provided, I found myself playing with Problem String teaching, ratio tables, area modeling, and “Real Math” strategies for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I was completely energized, and when I brought these ideas to my students, they were energized in their learning as well.

I remember one incredible lesson early on where I showed my 4th graders how Pam was teaching me to multiply large numbers. We took our ratio table to some really huge, clunky, challenging numbers—and they were killing it! When I pointed out the level of multiplication they were doing, they were literally jumping around and cheering. Moments like that confirmed to me that I was on the right path.

It wasn’t long before I was completely sold and knew I needed more. Through Pam’s teaching, I saw that there was a world of math content I hadn’t yet mastered, and if I was going to help myself, my students, and my teachers, I was going to need to invest in it. With my administrator’s blessing, I joined the Math is FigureOutAble teacher coaching support called Journey and began taking every workshop I could.

Over the past two years, I have steadily worked through the workshops, beginning with addition and building all the way up to proportional reasoning. The workshops have been my main focus because I desperately wanted the content, and I can confidently say that I have grown in what I know, understand, and can do.

The workshops are incredibly doable for me. Sometimes I watch just one or two videos during a planning period; other times I binge several at once. No matter what time I can carve out from my crazy schedule, I can easily access the workshops at my own pace and come back to them again and again. Beyond that, the workshops take time to examine and work through valuable teacher moves that have transformed my practice even more.

Yes, we teachers need to know our content, and we need strong teaching routines and lesson structures like Problem Strings and rich problem teaching. But we also need to know how to execute them and communicate them successfully. Pam’s modeling, along with the workshop instruction, has given me that. Because each workshop spends time on teacher moves, I come back to them daily, and I can see myself growing as an educator.

Every part of Journey is so positive and supportive of me as a mathematician and a learner that I want to keep going. Even better, although I’ve always been a reasonably positive teacher, I’ve become even more positive with my students—less judgmental, less pushy, and more invitational. I’ve become more successful in communicating my confidence in them as learners. As I’ve been able to model, teach, and coach the other teachers in my building, they’ve begun commenting on the teacher moves I’m using as well.

Since I began, the grade-level Problem String books have come out. Using them to plan and execute Problem Strings, build strategies and relationships with students, and review and deepen my knowledge base has been intuitive and easy. More and more teachers in my school are teaching Real Math using Problem Strings as well.

This year, I was surprised at the difference between our returning students and new students when presented with math challenges. Students who had been playing with Real Math came ready to talk, try, discuss their ideas with peers, and use what they knew to figure out hard problems. Those who were new were gobsmacked that they were being asked to think and talk about their thinking. I’m hopeful that as we continue our efforts to shift toward more Real Math, we’ll see these gains increase.

The result of Math Is FigureOutAble for me is a huge increase in my confidence as a mathematician, math teacher, and math coach. I’m seeing students across my school gradually grow in their math reasoning and belief in themselves as sense-makers. I’ve seen my practice blossom and improve. I now have the content knowledge and skills to keep moving on to bigger and better things.

Above all, I’ve begun spreading what I’ve been learning to the rest of the school, and little by little I see it taking hold. We’re nowhere near where we’re going to be, and I’m so excited to see where Math Is FigureOutAble will take my school in the coming years.

From Erica’s Journey to Yours: Learn with Pam

Erica’s story reminds us that when teachers shift their practice, students shift their confidence and joy in math, too. If you’d like to dive deeper into the strategies that have inspired her journey, join us for the launch of Pam Harris’s newest book, Developing Mathematical Reasoning: The Strategies, Models, and Lessons to Teach the Big Ideas in Grades K–2.

Celebrate the release with us at the Book Launch Webinar on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, at 7:00–8:30pm CT. Pam will share practical ideas from the book, plus inspiration for making math real and sense-making in every classroom. Register for the event today!

This is your chance to learn directly from Pam, connect with other educators, and take the next step toward making math truly figureoutable for your students.