Bridging the gap and celebrating math success
Updated: Sep 15, 2021
Award-winning teacher Shannon Gravel nurtures students' natural curiosity and understands the importance of versatility in teaching
St. Joseph's Catholic School is home to Shannon Gravel, an Impact Award-winning teacher who, during the pandemic, rose to the challenge and used technology to provide an innovative learning environment for her students. Her efforts have been bolstered by her school, which continually invests in technological infrastructure to ensure that students' needs are constantly met.
Shannon was first inspired to teach due to her love of working with children. While as a child, she never considered herself a "math person," she believes her struggle early on is what makes her a better teacher now, giving her insight into the challenges her students face. In her teaching, she nurtures her students' natural curiosity for maths and adapts her teaching style to bridge knowledge gaps in a fun and engaging way, showing her versatility as an educator.
In the classroom, Shannon constantly demonstrates her commitment to formative assessment through continually checking in on whole-class understanding to make sure no child is left behind. When she finds knowledge gaps, she personalizes students' missions so that whatever grade a student is working at, they are invested in reaching the next level. Celebrating these math successes is also a huge part of Shannon's teaching, and one of the ways she does this is by showing her students data from their first and second attempts to engage with them and their progress.
Although Covid-19 has brought huge challenges to school communities, Shannon has gone above and beyond to bring back a sense of normalcy into the classroom. She has pushed to create a versatile learning environment while respecting social distancing measures by integrating Game Shows and Missions using the classroom projector. Through this, Shannon continues to help her students discuss mathematical thinking as a group, allowing them to communicate and bounce ideas off each other despite restrictions. This commitment to education is inspiring and shows Shannon to be a real educational innovator.
