Director of Teaching & Learning Miles Azzeh's Academic Spotlight: Jessica Kowalewski
Our Lansing USD 469 teachers are incredible at engaging our students in fantastic learning opportunities to reach their full potential every day in our district. To highlight and bring recognition to this great work, Director of Teaching and Learning Miles Azzeh will be regularly shining a spotlight on a stand-out teacher through "academic spotlights."
This week's academic spotlight goes to LES third-grade teacher Jessica Kowalewski and her fantastic math intervention work with her students! Intervention time is an excellent opportunity for students to either fill gaps in their learning or receive enrichment to push them even further.
"We have math group time every day except Thursdays for 30 minutes. During this time, students receive math support at their level, whether filling in missing skills from previous grade levels or enrichment of the topics they are learning in 3rd grade," said Mrs. Kowalewski.
Jessica showed off her impressive instructional skills by differentiating what the students were learning in class, a tactic we often give lip service to but don't fully implement.
"In my classroom, I have a group that is working on number sense and reviewing concepts that were taught earlier in the year, a group that is doing problem-solving and logic-based activities, and a group that is engaging in technology resources available to them, such as Frax or MobyMax," said Mrs. Kowalewski.
In addition to the great teaching strategy, the necessary component for success in learning was present: kids were having fun!
"Playing "It's Go Time!" is fun, and I really like math games," said student Isabella.
"Logic puzzles are fun, and I like working with a group," said student Alice.
Students also have a chance to focus on state standard work digitally using our supplemental resource Reflex/Frax. This extra practice will prepare them for their math state assessment next month!
"Frax is so fun. I love that it's set in outer space and the characters are ferrets," said student Amy.
Great job, Mrs. Kowalewski, for reaching ALL learners and preparing them to succeed in Math!