Jan. 31, 2023

Education majors receive teaching award from state math council

By Kourtnie Stenwall, communication assistant

Two Northwest Missouri State University students recently received the Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) Outstanding Preservice Teacher of the Year award.

Halie Engler, a senior middle school math education major from Blue Springs, Missouri, and Abigail Davis, a senior elementary education major from Jefferson City, Missouri, received the award at the MCTM conference in December.

Award recipients are selected based on nominations and letters of recommendation.

Halie Engler, a senior middle school math education major from Blue Springs, Missouri, and Abigail Davis, a senior elementary education major from Jefferson City, Missouri, received the award at the MCTM conference in December.

Award recipients are selected based on nominations and letters of recommendation.

Engler, who plans to graduate from Northwest next December, has wanted to be a teacher since the fifth grade. Her passion for the field and skill for math influenced her to pursue a degree in math education.

“I’ve always enjoyed helping students and being around kids because they’re funny,” Engler said. “There is never a dull moment.”

Engler transferred to Northwest in the fall of 2021 after completing an associate degree in teaching at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, Missouri. She says Northwest faculty have encouraged her to continue pursuing a teaching career in her courses.

“I wasn’t sure if I would be good at doing it,” Engler said. “I just went and did it, and it’s been really good so far. My professors definitely encouraged me to pursue those jobs and experiences.”

Engler received the MCTM award, in part, as a recognition of her work as a study group leader in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and as a supplemental instructor in Northwest’s Student Success Center.

She said the award affirmed her work toward an education degree and her career interest.

“It reassured me that I was doing impactful things,” Engler said. “It was definitely reassuring and a confidence boost for going into my career.”

With a similar passion for becoming an educator, Davis, who graduates from Northwest in May, will be the sixth person in her family to pursue a career in teaching. As an undergraduate student at Northwest, she has gained experience teaching at St. Gregory Barbarigo Catholic School in Maryville and as a preschool teacher assistant at an early learning center.

“I have always just loved learning and teaching other kids how to learn and how to grow,” Davis said. “Watching them get that ‘aha’ moment really seals the deal for me.”

Davis’ recognition by MCTM stemmed from her work with Dr. Jennifer Wall, an associate professor of mathematics and statistics, and Heidi Komorech, a former fifth and sixth grade teacher at the Horace Mann Laboratory School, using rubrics in math courses to help students assess problem-solving, mathematical persistence and problem solutions. Davis conferenced with students about their mathematical persistence rubric as well as how to improve students’ willingness to productively struggle and persevere.

In December, Davis co-presented the research project, which found that the use of rubrics helped inform the student-teacher conferences about progress in math, with Wall at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference and Exposition in Baltimore.

“To be nominated for the award, knowing the amount of time and effort and energy that I put towards our research project and learning more about study growth, it was just such an honor to be thought of that way,” Davis said. “To receive it just showed that the work that I put in meant something to somebody.”