Ms. Brielle Fanning was recently selected as Staff Member of the month for her dedication and passion as a math teacher. Fanning has taught at Lakeland for the past four years and says it has been meaningful to return to the same school she attended as a student. She enjoys teaching AP Statistics and Algebra 1 Foundations because she likes helping students grow their math skills and confidence, especially freshmen who may have struggled with math before. 

“I have liked working with the Foundations Freshman students,” said Fanning. “They often come with a history of disliking math and having low confidence. It is rewarding working with them and giving them the opportunity to build a foundation of math skills.”

Fanning said she also enjoys teaching AP Statistics and strives to help her students save time and money in college by passing the test. 

As a math teacher, one of the biggest challenges she faces is that many students come in with weak basic skills and low confidence, but she works through this by building strong relationships with her students and helping them learn from common mistakes. 

“Some of the biggest challenges in teaching math are the lack of foundational skills, low confidence levels in math, and the disparities in student levels from the different sending districts,” said Fanning. “Some strategies for helping these students have been to build their confidence and review common mistakes. Building a relationship with students has really helped my students build their abilities and confidence along the way.”

Her favorite part of teaching math is seeing students finally understand a difficult concept and realize it is easier than they thought. Outside of school, she enjoys baking, kayaking, and hiking.