Building Bridges

For Alex Gearty '18BS, ’19MEd, the Bridges to the Future program was the catalyst she needed to pursue a teaching career.

"It changed my life," says Alex, who teaches mathematics at Franklin County Technical School in Turner Falls, MA. "I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but Bridges allowed me to peek behind the curtain."

Lecturers Bob Maloy and Sharon Edwards were central figures in her journey, says Alex, because they foster supportive learning environments that help students learn new techniques and restructure old habits. Their TEAMS Tutoring course in particular was beneficial, she added, because it shaped her teaching style from the ground up. When Maloy and Edwards asked her if she was interested in co-teaching the class in Spring 2022, Alex jumped at the chance.

TEAMS is typically a highly interdisciplinary class, said Maloy. In Spring 2022, it included students from 18 majors across campus, including students enrolled in EDUC497: Tutoring in Schools and EDUC597: Leadership Multi Tutor. TEAMS takes a hands-on approach to applied learning, which gives educators like Alex the chance to be creative when it comes to lesson plans. To introduce students to different strategies for teaching exponential growth and decay, Alex led a class activity that utilized M&Ms and graphing software to bring the content to life.

 "My hope is that students take what they learned in TEAMS and apply those philosophies to their careers (educational or otherwise)."

In addition to giving back to future generations of educators at UMass, Alex is also bringing her teaching experience full circle at Franklin Technical. As a student in the Bridges program she completed her teaching practicum there, before earning her degree and teaching at Mohawk Trail Regional High School.

Visit our Bridges to the Future page for more information.