"I am a fortunate individual. Ever since I was in elementary school, I wanted to be a teacher. Now, at the age of 62, I have no regrets about choosing teaching as a career. It has given me a lifetime of opportunity to meet the daily challenges of engaging all students in meaningful activities that foster understanding, retention and the ability to apply learning in new situations. I am convinced the challenge will stay with me until the end of my career. As long as there is one student who still just doesn’t "get it", there is an opportunity to think outside the box, create a different way to look at concepts, add excitement to learning and share these approaches with colleges. The ultimate reward is hearing students say they understand when they never thought they could."

Paul Lawrence Biography

Believing that ALL students can learn mathematics, Paul Lawrence is widely known for both his lively workshops for teachers of kindergarten through college and for the innovative teaching materials he has prepared. His hallmark is practical ideas and lessons which can be implemented in all classrooms.

Paul has been involved in mathematics education for over forty years. He has taught high school mathematics and has been a math supervisor, K-12 as well as a visiting part time lecturer at Rutgers University and a past President of the Association of Math Teachers of New Jersey (AMTNJ). In addition, he has been a member of New Jersey committees on the state tests in mathematics and has served as a member of the New and Experienced Teacher Institutes for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics since their inception in 1986. He is often a presenter at local, state and national conferences and has conducted hundreds of workshops throughout the United States. Paul was named by AMTNJ as the Max Sobel Outstanding Mathematics Educator for 2000.

His most recent passion has been to work on closing the achievement gap and is very proud that his Grade 3-6 Communicator Mathematics® program and team of outstanding coaches were chosen by a large urban school district in New Jersey. The results of this effort are that after just three years of implementation, there has been a gain of over 50% in the passing rate on the state assessments in grades 3 and 4. In addition, the district has been named by the Broad Foundation as one of the five outstanding urban districts in the US, in part because it has been able to show improvement in closing the achievement gap in literacy and mathematics.