Meredith Garza: Making math fun
Meredith Garza is a teacher who is constantly seeking to innovate in the classroom and is committed to learning and development alongside her students. Nothing brings her more joy than seeing a student succeed.
Meredith Garza has been teaching for 14 years and has found a home at Cottonwood Creek Elementary School as a third-grade math teacher. Although her own teachers predicted her future as an educator from a young age, Meredith planned to enter social work. However, after ending up teaching at an adult education center, Meredith fell in love with teaching, and just like her teachers all those years ago, she found her calling as an educator.
To ensure her students are always getting the best from her, she is dedicated to developing as a teacher. Whether attending workshops, reading up on the latest education innovations, or collaborating with fellow educators, Meredith constantly looks for new teaching methods and techniques.
Meredith’s primary goal as a math teacher is to encourage kids to love math and understand its many different applications. “I want them to find joy in math, and I want them to be invested in their own learning.” Each year, Meredith begins by reading her class the book “I’m trying to love math” to inspire her students and let them know that math is everywhere, not just in the classroom. For this reason, when teaching math, Meredith believes that finding real-world examples of math in action is invaluable for her students.
Although Meredith wants her students to achieve the best possible grade they can in math, more than that, she believes her classroom is the place to teach students how to work together, and build relationships, too. “I want them to know that the classroom is their safe space,” said Meredith.
Recognizing and understanding the many pressures placed on students, Meredith says she focuses on the learning part of math. “I want them to do their best, but that’s not the most important thing; what’s important is that they grow and feel like they’ve learnt something.”