Deonna Boynton, a 6th Grade Math Teacher at Coventry Public Schools (RI), has been named the Open Up Resources Teacher of the Month for March 2023. Boynton is being recognized for her outstanding work in her classroom and ongoing support of teachers across the country as a member of the Open Up Resources National Professional Learning Community.

Boynton’s work with Open Up Resources 6–8 Math makes her one of the most innovative teachers in the country. The Open Up Resources 6–8 Math curriculum inspires a new way of teaching math by transforming classrooms into hives of activity focusing on discussion, questioning, debate, and the deeper conceptual learning of mathematics that follows.

Nikki Scheib, a colleague at Coventry Public Schools, nominated Boynton for implementing Open Up Resources 6–8 Math with intentionality and integrity. Schieb shared, “Deonna is a very organized and intentional math teacher. She is enthusiastic and does a wonderful job implementing the curriculum. She carries out the lessons with intention and is careful to implement the math language routines and instructional routines into every activity. She even adds the Five Practices where they are not called for. She is encouraging to her students, her fellow 6th grade math teachers, and the school.”

Boynton celebrates all of the ways her students work through the tasks in Open Up Resources 6–8 Math. She explained, “I love seeing my students’ confidence grow as the year goes on. It actually makes me smile when I call students up to the board to showcase their work and they actually want to be up there and sigh or get upset when I have picked all the volunteers for that problem! It is amazing to see how the confidence in knowing there is no right or wrong way to get to the answer has changed the learning environment over the years.”

And she offered some advice to educators early on in their implementation: “This is my third year using the curriculum and I can honestly say that each year you use the curriculum you will feel more confident on how to deliver the lessons and use all the materials! I am still learning and always look forward to the following year knowing my confidence will increase with how I deliver the instruction to my students!”

Open Up Resources is a non-profit on a mission to increase equity in education by making excellent, top-rated curricula freely available to districts. You can learn more at www.openupresources.org.