ABOUT

My name is Meg Bell and I taught 8th grade Pre-Algebra and Algebra for 5 years at a junior high. In 2017, I transferred to the high school where I taught Geometry and coached the Dance and Cheer teams. Starting in 2022 I have had the opportunity to serve as a District Learning Coach, working with all teachers in one of our 5A high schools to increase student learning school wide. I graduated from Boise State University in 2011 with my B.S. in Math Education. I loved being a Bronco so much that I went back to BSU for my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a graduate certificate through the Mathematics Consulting Teacher Endorsement program in 2015. 

My passion for language and mathematics comes from my experience teaching in a large refugee resettlement city, with my previous and current school at the center of it all. Idaho in general has been welcoming and helping refugees since the 1970's. In 2014, the majority of refugees in Idaho came to the United States from Iraq, Congo, Bhutan, Burma, and Somalia. For more info on refugee resettlement in Idaho, click here. I am proud to be part of a school district that never stops trying to improve the educational experience for all students, refugees and English Language Learners alike. The junior high school I started teaching at had over 25 languages spoken by our students my last year there. I feel honored to get to be a part of a community where the "world is welcome". 

In 2014, our school went to a co-teaching model for our ELL students. I taught Pre-Algebra along with an ELL teacher. We planned together. We prepped together. We taught together. We graded together. And together, we were able to best help all students with their mathematics and language acquisition needs. It's a beautiful partnership that has taught me a lot about the language of mathematics, and the need to teach it as such. And three years of involvement in the co-teaching program has provided me the skills necessary to take what I learned to the high school and try it on my own! It's a journey for sure, and my hope is that this blog can serve as a resource for others in their own education journey.