Teachers Share Experiences in Peer-Reviewed Magazine

Professors collaborate on how to prepare math teachers in SHU program

Math is a subject that students often approach with apprehension. As a new grade nine math teacher, Sacred Heart University student Jennifer Raab developed a culturally relevant pedagogy to help her math-phobic students succeed, and her findings have been published in this month’s Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12.

Through Connecticut’s durational shortage area permit (DSAP), which authorizes service in Connecticut schools when applicants are missing requirements for the certification area being taught, Raab took a teaching position while gaining her certification in Sacred Heart’s Master of Arts in teaching (MAT) program.

Being a DSAP student varies from the traditional teacher certification curriculum. To support new teachers who are learning and working at the same time, Lindsay Keazer, an associate professor in the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development, acts as their University supervisor and supports curriculum development over two semesters instead of 12 weeks of student teaching.

“Often these SHU MAT students teaching under DSAP with year-long, research-based support gain enough knowledge by the end that they can publish a peer-reviewed article to share their learning with a national audience,” said Keazer.

The peer-reviewed Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12 published Raab’s article, “Teaching is a Journey: Developing My Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” co-authored by Keazer, in its June issue. The article describes Raab setting expectations for her ninth-grade class and developing a lesson plan that fostered a class environment of encouragement and celebrating success.

When a benchmark test revealed learning disparities ranging from grades three through eight, Raab asked herself, “How do I engage students in learning grade-level content while simultaneously supporting learning gaps? How do I convince students that they can do the math, especially those who have always failed math?” The results are the basis of the published article.

Brandon Pelter, SHU adjunct instructor and high school math teacher, also went through the MAT program under DSAP while simultaneously teaching. In February 2024, he published “Teaching is a Journey: Building My Thinking Classroom” under the same “Teaching is a Journey” section of Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12.

Keazer and Pelter collaborate on how to prepare math teachers. “We really focus our initial support on improving their lesson planning to meet students where they currently are in their learning and get them up to grade level,” Keazer said. Through her own research, Keazer found that when a math lesson meets students at their current knowledge level, it piques their curiosity in math, and the motivation to learn can be revived.

“As we grow in numbers of SHU math teachers in the area that can support and exemplify the best practices that they learn at SHU, it helps our current students to see more illustrations of what great math teaching can look like,” said Keazer.