Hello and welcome to Draw Maths! My name is Caroline and I am the creator of Draw Maths.
I am a UK qualified teacher graded ‘Outstanding’ and I have experience teaching Maths in primary schools, secondary schools, and at university.
Where it started
I have fallen in love with Maths from the age of 2. I had understood place value allowed me to count on forever…
I started teaching Maths at 14 years old, as my teacher asked me to use free periods to help students with their Maths, as I often did during lessons. I was inspired by a teacher from previous years, the wonderful Mademoiselle Page. She showed us the importance of drawings, illustrations and real life examples, as well as of being clear and rigorous. It was fun to teach at such an early age and I have carried on teaching Maths as a private tutor and later a classroom teacher from my late teens and now for over 30 years.
I went on to study Mathematics and Physics at university up to Master’s level. I was an outstanding mathematician during my studies, mostly in the top 5% of the Maths students and ranking second out of nearly 2,000 students in my first year.
A lifelong career in education
At the end of my university studies, I realised that teaching had not only been a hobby but that it was a vocation and I have worked in the field of education since, covering Maths and Physics and other subjects too. In the last ten years, I have worked in teachers’ education training over 200 Maths teachers for the TES Institute, helping them develop both their knowledge of the subject and their understanding of pedagogy. I also managed a Higher Education online course for international students, discovering the wonderful opportunities offered by online education.
I work as Maths consultant in secondary schools in England, delivering masterclasses at GCSE levels mostly (both Foundation and Higher), as well as supporting Maths departments with curriculum development and teacher development.
During my career, I was fortunate to teach and support students with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) and students with English as an Additional Language (EAL). As a teacher, it allowed me to explore many approaches to pedagogy to ensure all my learners would access the learning, and reach their potential. Again, the use of visual representations was key, as was the ability to break down the learning in clear steps, to make learning relevant and exciting, and to adapt the level to that of my students.
Why Draw Maths?
Draw Maths is a result of 30 years of interacting with, and learning from inspiring educators and amazing students. I enjoy mathematics deeply and I am keen to help develop the current and the future generations’ understanding of maths, and on having an impact on the quality of Maths education in our schools too.
My aim is for Draw Maths lessons to:
1. Give a deep and accurate understanding of the Maths concepts, from using a variety of visuals and other representations
2. Be inclusive, by using a variety of approaches to teaching,
3. Be structured, offering clear steps of progression in understanding and skills, with regular practice carefully increasing in difficulty
4. Be tailored to the students (when in 1-2-1 lessons), by ensuring that my teaching is at the level of my student
5. Have a lasting and wide-ranging impact with a focus on key skills such as presentation skills, counting skills, etc.
6. And overall raise the confidence of students, whom often come to me having not been able to engage positively with Maths for a while. By giving them the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of Maths, to see that they can actually be successful at Maths and that their effort are rewarded, I hope that all my students will enjoy learning Maths with me!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via email at info@drawmaths.com