Case Studies - Staff

Mr. Zach G.

I met Mr. G. back in 2020 while working at a rural high school in New Jersey. Mr. G. was innovative and very sensitive. After I completed a benchmark observation of his teaching, he got very upset and felt "attacked."

I immediately set up a meeting with Mr G, apologized, and explained my intentions. Because of my immediate, empathetic actions, Mr. G. and I bonded. We had a close relationship for the rest of the school year and learned a lot from each other!

Ms. Gerilyn W.

I met Ms. W. while working at a rural middle school in New Jersey in 2020. Gerilyn separated herself from her peers with her very open-minded, creative, and hard working demeanor. Because of her willingness and excitement, we ended up meeting Friday afternoons, many times for three hours at a time!

Ms. W. was particularly interested in incorporating a blended learning environment with her math students using a Google Site as I showed her. She immediately implemented it into her instruction, along with her Harry Potter theme, and felt blended learning significantly improved her student learning!

Mr. Melvin R.

I met Mr. R. while working at a rural high school in 2020. Melvin was the union president and was extremely upset with many of the policies at the school, and he made it very known. To say Mr R. was a disgruntled employee was a gross understatement. I don't remember exactly the nature of our first meeting, but I do remember he was so difficult that I reached out to the leadership of the school to report his actions; they did nothing.

The dynamics were such that Mr. R. could say whatever he wanted and leadership was afraid to confront him. At one point I decided to build a relationship with him, and I went back into his classroom, apologized for our previous meeting, and simply listened to him. What came out of this second meeting was nothing short of incredible. Mr. R. actually invited me to teach his math students once a week so he could see my instructional strategies in action!