Each Friday this Fall, we will introduce one of our new Cohort 3 M3T Fellows. This week, let’s meet Ellen Holt from Summers County Comprehensive High School!
Ellen Holt
M3T Mountain State Fellow – Cohort 3
High School Mathematics Teacher
Summers County Comprehensive High School
Summers County Schools
Twitter: @elleninez
Number of years teaching: 21
Professional awards, distinctions, and points of pride: SCCHS 2022 Teacher of the Year; selected to train county personnel on mentoring new teachers
Interesting personal facts:
I have 3 sons – an 18 year old preparing for freshman year of college, planning to study aerospace engineering; a 16 year old going into his junior year; and a 9 year old going into fourth grade. I love flowers and gardening, and my family teases me about my porch being a greenhouse (I also have 8 flowerbeds). I love cooking, baking and canning, and just spent time the past few weeks restocking my shelves with a half dozen types of jams, jellies and preserves. My family’s happy place is Summersville Lake – we go almost every week during summer.
Why are you excited to be part of the M3T project?
I think the best way to improve my practice is to surround myself with others who are looking for sustainable ways to improve. Having a group of people focused on this same goal gives us all an enormous opportunity to give our students the changes needed to be successful.
Why do you teach mathematics?
I teach mathematics because I want students to be able to understand the world around them and be better problem solvers. I want students to see the math behind everyday activities and situations, and I want to help them break these problems down into pieces they can solve.
What are you focused on improving about mathematics teaching?
I am focused on helping students overcome apathy. I want students to see the relevance in the math they learn and to be able to use it to attack messy, real-world problems. I want their mindset to shift from “this is too hard” to “okay what do we consider first?”
Final thoughts:
It is so exciting to be part of a group of people who are interested in not just keeping the status quo, as has been the case in so many districts for so many years, but in pushing those boundaries and trying to discover and do what truly matters for our students. Making that difference in our kids will make a difference in our communities and our state.
Check in each week on #M3TFellowFriday throughout the school year to meet another M3T Fellow. You can find a listing of all of the M3T Fellows and stay up-to-date with the work of the M3T network at our website, https://m3twv.org. You can also stay up-to-date with all of the activity of our network by following us on Twitter, @m3t_wv, and on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/m3twv.
