Anna Scharfeld
Santa Barbara USD Santa Barbara, CA
Anna Scharfeld has had an interest in mathematics since before majoring in the subject at Northwestern University, and now has a passion for working with teachers to provide students with opportunities to engage in problem solving while appreciating the beauty and creativity in the subject. She was an elementary school teacher for 16 years, teaching every grade from kindergarten through 6th grade. While a TOSA for the Goleta Union School District, she lead many professional learning sessions on CCSS Math Progressions, differentiating instruction, and working with teachers to analyze student thinking. She is now an assistant principal at Santa Barbara High School. Through her work with kindergartners through 12th graders, she believes that it is vital that we help students develop a deep conceptual understanding in mathematics from the elementary grades and assist students in explicitly connecting that understanding to more advanced concepts. Her goal is to create more vertical discussions with teachers from the elementary grades through high school. The knowledge, instructional practices, experiences and perspectives on student learning from each level, if shared, can bring greater coherence to all of our students' mathematical understandings.