Welcome to The Math Studio

Catheryne Draper founded The Math Studio, Inc. in 1982, after 10 years of teaching and supervisory experiences in GA public schools, and six years as a consultant and editor for publishers of math educational materials in IL and MA. During her math education tenure she has held teaching certificates in three states and has been involved with math education at K-12 levels in public and private schools, at the college level, and in the development of regular and special ed instructional materials. She conducts teacher training workshops, coaches adults and school-age students, and develops math instructional tools. Draper has a B.S. in Mathematics and an M.Ed in Mathematics Education and Supervision from the University of Georgia. As president of The Math Studio, Inc., she regularly presents professional development programs at state, regional, and national math conferences. A needlework sampler in Draper’s office sums up her idea of the best kind of teaching: “A good teacher teaches their students to teach themselves.”


	SYNERGY LEARNING - CONNECT MAGAZINE 2011 Nano News in the Classroom Edit What would the conversations have sounded like if Thales, Greek philosopher and mathematician from seventh-century BCE, had the chance to meet seventeenth-century German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? My middle school students imaginatively improvised this interaction during a Spirit of Mathematicians Day at The Phoenix School in Salem, Massachusetts, during the school’s... Full Article... TITLE I EXCHANGE ARTICLE 2008 Teachers: How to Help Students “See” Mathematics Comments from students like “Oh, I see” are like music to many math teachers. Besides using models such as algebra tiles and place value blocks, patty paper and counting sticks, what else can help students to see the math relationships and patterns? This is a good question with a not-so-simple answer. Full Article... CONNECT MAGAZINE 2007 Tracing Geometry Good math is memorable math, the kind that stays with students so that they can remember it and apply it to new situations. Many students have a significantly better chance of remembering if they can “see” the math and then recognize the connections among topics. It isn’t only about mastering the pieces or the skills; it’s about seeing how the pieces and skills fit together. Our job as teachers is to help students see and hopefully remember valuable mathematical relationships from one grade level to the next. Full Article... CONNECT MAGAZINE 2006 It’s Is All About Connections My teaching life changed when I entered a Masters degree program that included elementary teachers, centered on math education development. I was a high school teacher by training and was only slightly aware of elementary and middle school pedagogy and the instructional models used in the early grades. As a result of my new experiences, I decided that I wanted to identify and make more classroom-relevant connections at all levels within the instructional program—elementary through high school. I wanted to illustrate the continuum, not just provide occasional examples. Full Article... ATMNYS JOURNAL How I Used Classification Skills To Jump-Start My Students into the Critical Thinking Process Is critical thinking a desirable component in mathematics classes? Absolutely. Does classification and sorting help to develop critical thinking strategies? While my intuition has always said “yes,” my recent review of some of the critical thinking literature did not provide an obvious corroborating “yes.” Of the dozen articles I reviewed defining the critical thinking process, only two specifically cited classification in their definitions. My informal interviews with K-12 colleagues on this topic yielded mixed opinions regarding a direct connection although no one considered classification as a non-essential activity. Full Article...