The Blog
The purpose of having this blog is to help make math accessible for all students. I find that if I use an approach that fits the student’s learner profile and if I am responsive to the student’s needs, the student can access the math appropriate for that student.
The posts in this blog show a variety of instructional strategies that can be used in initial instruction (UDL – see ramp cartoon) or for differentiation and intervention.
Randy
I am a long time math teacher with a master’s in special education. On December 17, 2008 my son Gabriel, was diagnosed with autism. This event is what led me to special education. My professional activities include working with teacher candidates in math and special education, pro-bono work to help families and teachers, individual instruction with students with special needs, and various professional services
Quotes from Parents of Students Served
“Randy Ewart is a consummate professional dedicated to helping children with special needs learn and truly understand mathematics for continued progression and success. He is one of the most dedicated teachers our daughter has ever worked with. He has been fully committed to finding the best approach and methodology to present math to our daughter to build an appropriate foundation for her to learn. We are fortunate to work with him again and highly recommend him to any family seeking a math teacher who understands how to teach special needs students.”
“Working with Randy has been life changing for my daughter.
Math was her biggest source of frustration and no matter how hard she worked it never made sense. Teachers would tell me she was ‘doing awesome’ but she was really just following steps without understanding any of it. I thought she was going to go through life unable to even buy a candy bar without being taken advantage of.
Randy changed all that. He is able to break math down in a way that makes sense. He is able to identify what is confusing her and find different ways to explain it. He makes it meaningful for her.
After her second session with Randy my daughter called me giddy with excitement. ‘I CAN DO MATH!’ A few weeks later ‘Can you believe it? I’m turning into a math kid!’
She now leaps out of bed on the days she is scheduled to meet with him saying “Yes! It’s Randy Math Tuesday!” She can now do basic operations and has moved beyond ‘consumer math’ and is doing great with algebra. All because of Randy’s unique combination of skills to guide, instruct and get math to make sense.
My daughter is a true success story. I don’t believe any of this progress would have been possible if Randy hadn’t come into her life. Neither she nor I can wait to see how far she can go.”
“Henry struggled with math for years. All interventions had failed and as a result he had lost confidence in himself. Everything changed with Randy. Together they cracked math open for Henry. The results were life altering! Thank you!”
Contact
Background
- BA in Secondary Math Education
- Master’s in Statistics
- National Board Certification in Mathematics
- Connecticut SDE- LearnZillion Dream Team Teacher for CCSS math (2014)
- Master’s in Special Education with focus in autism
- Instructor for math course for special education teacher candidates at University of Connecticut and Central Connecticut University.
- Formerly an Instructor for math teacher candidates
- Formerly an Instructor for math intervention course at the University of Saint Joseph
- Consultant for various districts and parents
- Invited speaker at national Council for Exceptional Children (2014)
- Presenter at national conference for CEC Division of Developmental Disabilities
- Presenter for various parent and educator groups