Gina Picha

Gina Picha is a math educator and author whose work focuses on using brief, targeted conferences to deepen students’ mathematical thinking and build confident mathematicians. She is the author of Conferring in the Math Classroom: A Practical Guidebook to Using 5-Minute Conferences to Grow Confident Mathematicians (Stenhouse, 2022), which provides K–8 teachers with practical structures for math conferring and emphasizes listening, naming students’ strengths, and encouraging them to share and refine their ideas.

Picha holds a master’s degree in education from Aurora University and an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from Concordia University–Austin. Over her 14-year career in education, she has taught kindergarten, first grade, and fifth grade and served as an elementary instructional coach, K–12 curriculum specialist, and K–5 district math coordinator. In addition to her book, she writes and presents on math conferences and student-centered mathematics instruction, including work on math curriculum and articles about fostering mathematical understanding through conversation.