Fellows in Action

Fellow Spotlight

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Kelsey Onofrio, Joseph Melillo Middle School, East Haven Public Schools

Kelsey Onofrio is one of two 8th-grade teachers at Joseph Melillo Middle School in East Haven. As a Fellow, she has stepped into multiple leadership roles this year at the school-level and beyond.  Last spring, Kelsey opened her classroom for math coaches from Hartford Public Schools to observe the Building Thinking Classroom (BTC) model in action. Within her school, Kelsey will be a TEAM mentor for the first time, supporting a new 7th-grade math teacher. Drawing on her experience working with the BTC model, Kelsey was asked to lead an interdisciplinary initiative to bring the model to all subject areas at her middle school. In addition, Kelsey was invited to participate as part of East Haven’s team in an interdistrict consortium through The Acceleration Networked Improvement Community (NIC) and Partners for Educational Leadership. Reaching out state-wide, in August, Kelsey – along with Fellows Marta Soto-Johnson and William McKinney – hosted a Back-to-School Webinar on BTC and how to design curricular tasks that promote student autonomy. The webinar was attended by educators from across the state and is posted online at this link.   



Fellow Spotlight

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Shawn McClory, Manchester High School, Manchester Public Schools

   

Shawn McClory teaches statistics, geometry and AP Statistics at Manchester High School. Stepping into some new leadership roles, Shawn is hosting a UConn master’s intern this year. Together they are exploring how to help students find more meaning in math class and connect it to their future endeavors. Shawn will continue to improve his own teacher practice while mentoring a future classroom teacher. Shawn is also a TEAM Mentor this year for a second-year math teacher. Extending beyond his classroom, Shawn hosted UConn’s senior math education cohort for a session, leading them in activities and discussion about implementing problem solving tasks and supporting high engagement. He facilitated a similarly focused district back-to-school professional development session. In October, he presented Launching Problem Solving Tasks to Maximize Engagement at his first regional conference, the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in New England (ATMNE), in Portland, Maine. Shawn is extensively involved in other aspects of the school and community. He is currently the treasurer of the local teachers union, the Manchester Education Association (MEA); coaches basketball and golf; and serves on Climate Committee and as the advisor to LINK- a student leadership and mentor group that organizes events and programs to build camaraderie between student leaders and the ninth graders.

MTL Fellows Presented Workshops at State Math Conference

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Fellows presented and attended the Associated Teachers Of Mathematics In Connecticut (ATOMIC) conference held March 20th in New Haven. Ilisse Gomez (Miss, I Need Help!), William McKinney (Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics), and Nicole Beauchamp (Systems and Structures for a Thinking Classroom) engaged workshop participants in ways to support their English Language Learners, establish positive classroom cultures, and design math tasks in which students can collaboratively discover learning and think deeply about math. Check out ATOMIC’s website for more information.