I am grateful, again, to my co-teacher, Donald Cook, for giving me the opportunity to spend two weeks with his elementary kids in summer school this year. In the time that I was able to be with DJ, and especially with the fourth and fifth graders, I watched the students grow, even in the space… Continue reading a gift freely given, again
Category: Eureka and Middle School Math
A Lesson in Empathy
When I first began teaching at Parker Charter (Devens, MA), I encountered a phenomenon that was new to me: parents would register their student at the school, but not tell us that the student had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). We'd spend a few months with the kids, becoming increasingly concerned about performance and achievement,… Continue reading A Lesson in Empathy
An Experience of True Co-Teaching
I believe strongly in the importance of having high-quality virtual education in order to meet the needs of a wide range of students. That includes, of course, summer school programming as well. At first, I had wanted to teach summer school this year, but it became clear in June that I did not have enough… Continue reading An Experience of True Co-Teaching
What’s Math Got to Do With It?
Please forgive the indulgence, but this is a different kind of blog post. Over the winter, I read What's Math Got to Do With It?: How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject by Dr. Jo Boaler. Where was SO MUCH inspiring that I just collected all of the… Continue reading What’s Math Got to Do With It?
Using Jamboard to Rethink Vocabulary
I have the honor of working for ten hours this summer with a colleague, Jack Czajkowski, an 8th grade science teacher at Greenfield Commonwealth Virtual School. It's an open-ended work assignment and we have been free-range on topics and discussions and working on what catches our eye, but we did work through a full draft… Continue reading Using Jamboard to Rethink Vocabulary
We all need a sidekick
In mid-February 2021, I took two online professional development trainings in a week. The first was the 6-hour MicroCredential Training called "Building Belonging in Virtual Environments" with the National School Reform Faculty; the second was the Math Leaders Network run by DESE, the Massachusetts State Department of Education. While different in structure and content, both… Continue reading We all need a sidekick
Desmos CardSort: the intersection of math and vocabulary
I've recently written about how I've used the CardSort option in Desmos to create a vocabulary game for science, pushing the uses of Desmos beyond just math. There are plenty of electronic or online options for creating flashcards, but I like the way Desmos allows me to use the Dashboard, allows me to share with… Continue reading Desmos CardSort: the intersection of math and vocabulary
Fundamental and Foundational
Sometimes, we get so busy thinking about how to make co-teaching successful that we forget that any co-teaching, or any teaching of any kind, begins with planning, or, in this case, co-planning. If teachers cannot successfully co-plan, then they cannot realistically prepare a classroom experience in which they are able to co-teach. Plenty of people… Continue reading Fundamental and Foundational
“We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast”
On Friday, April 16, 2021, I went into an MRI appointment at 5:00 pm in Worcester, Massachusetts, to see if we could figure out why I had recently been having some increased headache pain and to identify if it was perhaps due to a blood clot from having received the J&J vaccine. I left in… Continue reading “We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast”
Why Jamboard Works
If you have read any of my recent posts about Jamboard, you know that I'm obsessed with it...but haven't been able to put my finger on what, exactly, has felt so enticingly different. I was thrilled to find this blog post by Ben Whitaker that helped define some of what makes Jamboard feel so different.… Continue reading Why Jamboard Works
Universal Design for Learning 