Congratulations to Susquehanna Valley High School teachers Lauren Gagnon and Rachel Heslin! They have been selected together as “Teacher of the Week” by WICZ-TV for its series recognizing outstanding teachers in our area.
Lauren and Rachel began co-teaching Algebra I last year as a two-year program where students add on the concepts mastered the year before. Both teachers are grateful to the District for helping them build this innovative co-teaching model.
In addition, they incorporate “Building Thinking Classrooms” into their teaching method, a program that gets students up and moving during lessons. During our visit into their classroom, students arranged themselves at the front of the room in order by smaller to larger numbers, after first defining the numbers handed out to them as rational or irrational, and providing an explanation for their definition.
A phrase often heard from Mrs. Heslin in the classroom is “Be kind to yourself.” And Mrs. Gagnon reminds them that “mistakes are to be celebrated, because they help us learn.”
Their collaborative teaching styles, innovative teaching methods, and overall kindness … equal a winning formula for their Susquehanna Valley High School students.