Tara Trudo

Tara Trudo

Posts by Tara Trudo

Honest Conversations, Real Change: Leading Math Instruciton Transformation at Every Level

Let me tell you about a conversation I had with a first-grade teacher a few years ago. She was describing a boy in her class who had an IEP for math. "He just doesn't get it," she said. "Some kids are just like that with math."

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10 min read
May 1, 2026

Building Bridges: Helping Students Move Between Concrete, Representational and Abstract Models

What is the difference between a student who gets the right answer and a student who understands the mathematics? The answer lies in how flexibly they can move between different ways of representing mathematical ideas and how well they understand the connections between those representations.

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6 min read
Apr 16, 2026
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Oct 28, 2025
3 min read
May 30, 2025
3 min read
Aug 9, 2024

Countering Teaching Through Telling with 4 Inclusive Math Instruction Strategies

Picture this - a teacher stands at the front of the room. Their back is to you and they are writing an addition problem on the board: 24 + 37. They tell you to do what they are doing. “First, we line up the tens, then we line up the ones.” You copy down the numbers, the symbols, the formula. You write what they write. You do what they do. The day ends and you can do what they do - but you have not developed your mathematical understanding. You have not flexed your own problem-solving muscles. When you are asked to show your thinking or explain your answer - you’re silent. You learned to copy, …

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9 min read
Feb 9, 2024