My name is Jessica Palumbo, education blogger and former elementary school teacher!

My teaching career began at a very low performing urban public school in Dallas, Texas. I was so grateful to have my first teaching job, but the reality of first year teaching hit hard pretty quickly. Six weeks into the school year I was reassigned to second grade due to staffing issues and pretty much had to start over. There was a tremendous amount of pressure to get good test scores and so many teachers I worked with found themselves “teaching to the test” because they were under so much stress (and who can blame them).

On top of that, I really underestimated how much work went into planning just one day of lessons in a self-contained second grade classroom, especially for math. There was so much content to cover and it never felt like I had enough time to really dive into a skill before moving on to the next one. Math had also changed a lot since I was in elementary school. I was pretty much just taught the standard algorithm and how to memorize steps and rules. Now students are expected to learn math using so many different strategies and representations. It was a lot to learn my first year and it felt overwhelming!

I knew my students needed a lot of support in math, and the way things were set up with textbooks and worksheets just wasn't working for them. I decided to focus my time and energy on creating extremely well thought out math lessons in powerpoint that used visual representations to simplify complex topics. I spent hours breaking down each standard and building lessons that carefully brought students up to where they needed to be. This allowed me to review content from the previous grade level, introduce new concepts, and catch misconceptions right as they happened. The best part was student engagement! The slides were interactive and I incorporated my students’ names and interests so the math problems were about them!

I started teaching with my lessons in October and by December 100% of my students were passing math (you can read more about it here). I was so thrilled that my students were engaged and that my lessons were effective! It was a tremendous amount of work my first year, but I knew it would be worth it with the student growth that I was seeing, and the following year when I taught second grade again all I had to do was open the presentations and teach. I knew I had created a trusted resource that worked and I no longer had to spend hours of time planning math lessons every day. I later developed my third grade lessons when I taught third grade at a wonderful private school!

When I first created my math lessons, I never had any intention of selling them. I just wanted to be the best teacher I could be and help my students build confidence and experience joy while learning math. But year after year as I watched my students experience so much growth and success, I realized my lessons should be shared with other educators, and I have loved every minute of it! It’s very meaningful knowing that my lessons have reached hundreds of students, and that I have helped teachers reduce their time spent planning so they can focus on the part of the job they love, which is teaching!

I am now a stay at home mom to three beautiful children. I have a 5 year old son, a 3 year old son and a 5 month old baby girl! We currently live in the Pittsburgh area and in our spare time we love going to the farmers market, trying new coffee shops and taking walks with our dog. I understand what it’s like to be a busy mom and a busy teacher, so I’m glad I can offer math lessons that work well for both homeschooling parents and classroom teachers. I’m excited to use my lessons with my own kids as they enter elementary school to supplement what they are learning in the classroom, or for homeschooling (still TBD)!

Since launching Math on Point, I have really enjoyed getting to know parents and teachers around the country who are using my lessons in their homes and classrooms! I’m excited to develop Math on Point for other grade levels in the future, especially now that my own kids are starting their early childhood years, and I’m grateful that I can share the strategies that worked so well for me and my students. I know you have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to classroom resources, so thank you for your trust and support. Please don’t hesitate to reach out anytime with questions!