A Clover Park School District story.
Our CPSD Staff Spotlight this week features Lochburn Middle School math teacher Emily Umstead.
This is Emily’s 13th year at Lochburn, and she’s been lucky enough to keep the same classroom each year. She has always taught eighth grade but welcomed sixth grade students into her classroom this year. “The sixth graders are very excited and eager to learn, which is fun to work with,” she said. “I also really like teaching them their foundational skills because I know where they’re headed in eighth grade, which is right back to my classroom when I see them two years later.”
Emily is passionate about creating structure for her students while adapting learning methods to meet their individual needs. “Rather than just repeating the same things over, I want them to come to class expecting challenging work and then helping them as we find new ways of solving problems that make sense to that particular student based on their misunderstanding,” she said.
Many students come to Emily’s class and find math too difficult, but she likes to make sure they leave feeling confident it’s a subject they can tackle. “I love helping kids feel successful with a subject that can be the most challenging for them,” she said. “We get to know each other, understand how each other learns and connect through math, which sounds nerdy, but it’s what I love to do!”
