Who’s on the visiting team? Six educators are coming to campus. The chair of the team educates math educators at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. One is a parent of a Milton grad who is involved in the industry. A third spent many years as the math department chair at a K–12 school and now works in higher education. Another is a math teacher from a private school known for its exceptional math program. Finally, two on the team will focus on K–8.
How long will they be on campus? From Monday through Friday—a full week of immersion. What are some of the side benefits? Teachers have moved from a little understandable reticence to being excited about what we’re learning and what we could be doing. We’ve uncovered new and important questions that we can discuss with each other, over time, as well. Maybe most importantly, more than half of us have been off campus looking at other programs, and that number will grow by the year’s end.
What do people need to know about this kind of curriculum review? It takes time, money, focus, help from academic leaders, and a willingness to adjust, tweak and persist. It’s extremely important and very absorbing. And in the meantime, teaching and advising and coaching and dorm parenting goes on. It’s an absolutely invaluable and transformative effort. It will even more distinctly define teaching and learning at Milton, department by department, over time.
Heather Sugrue, math department chair Spring 2013 39