Phillip Kent
Jour 1033
April 22, 2021
Journal 2B, Interview Story
Dr. Laura Kent
Dr. Laura Kent is an associate professor of mathematics education at the University of Arkansas. She works in the College of Education and Health Professions. She is 57 years old. She started her career as a mathematics major at Purdue. She taught seventh and eighth grade math in Gary, IN for five years. She also sponsored academic competitions. During her fourth year of teaching her students place first in a regional math competition.
Most people don’t like mathematics. I asked her why she liked the subject so much. She said, “Its beautiful and intuitive”. The answer was shocking. A lot of people think math is boring and repetitive. Dr. Kent thinks just the opposite. She thinks its fun and challenging.
Fractions are her favorite topic which is even more surprising. She said even a lot of teachers don’t like fractions let alone students. She did her dissertation on how students learn fractions. She said she learned a lot about fractions by watching kids struggle with them.
One of her favorite memories of teaching were when she used tangrams with her students and saw how good they were at them. Another favorite memory was her first day of teaching when she was so nervous that she wore two different shoes. She said that luckily she was able to go home at lunch and put the correct shoes on.
She loves teaching college students who want to be mathematics teachers. She told me there is a shortage of math teachers. She and her colleagues recently got a grant to support more math and science majors to become teachers. She said more people need to go into STEM fields.
The biggest challenges for her are getting future teachers to realize that kids know a lot more about math than they think. She encourages them to be open minded to a lot of different ways of thinking about math and be flexible. She encourages them to listen and learn from students.
In terms of accomplishments, Dr. Kent said she wants to write and publish a children’s book on division and fractions that will engage more young students in trying to understand them. She wants to publish more articles and make more time to work with mathematics teachers and students.
Finally, Dr. Kent said that she has enjoyed a great career so far but the pandemic has been the biggest challenge. She said getting Covid-19 was one of her scariest experiences. She said it was really hard to manage teaching using the hybrid model of students who were face to face and who were virtual at the same time. Her wish, like so many others, is that the pandemic ends soon so she can go back to face to face teaching this fall.
https://www.phillipkent.net 