Interview by Paige Cabral
The Falconer: Is this your first time as a teacher?
Ms. Lawson: It’s my first time as a full-time teacher. Last year I did my student teaching, so I taught two out of the three classes that my mentor teacher would normally have taught because it was a semester basis so the schedule was different than it is here. I taught almost full time last year, but I was taking classes full time as well so I was very busy last year. So this is my first time as a full-time teacher being one-hundred percent responsible for all my classes, and it's been awesome.
The Falconer: Is this your first time as a teacher?
Ms. Lawson: It’s my first time as a full-time teacher. Last year I did my student teaching, so I taught two out of the three classes that my mentor teacher would normally have taught because it was a semester basis so the schedule was different than it is here. I taught almost full time last year, but I was taking classes full time as well so I was very busy last year. So this is my first time as a full-time teacher being one-hundred percent responsible for all my classes, and it's been awesome.
The Falconer: Where did you go to college?
Ms. Lawson: I went to college at UMass Amherst. It’s a great school. I highly recommend it to everyone. I did my undergrad in math so I studied for four years doing a bunch of different math classes, then I had a minor in anthropology actually, which was really interesting, and I got to learn some cool stuff about the world that way. And then last year I did my one-year masters degree where I was doing my student teaching and that was in education, so I have a bachelors in math and a masters degree in education both from UMass Amherst.
Q: What's your favorite part of being a teacher?
A: Of course getting to know everyone, meeting a lot of new people and also just being able to be up and doing things all day and not sitting behind a desk and just being able to interact with people of all different ages and from different places. It's a very social job, so it's one of the main reasons I like it. And I do love math; math is awesome.
Q: Have you always liked math?
A: Yes I actually have. When I was in fifth grade I would come up with these weird statistical reports that I would create myself. I was a little weird. I’ve always been good at math, and I’ve always liked math. There were times when I did want to give up in high school because it got hard, and in college it got really hard, so there were definitely times I wanted to give up. But I think it's a really cool subject, and I like how its just super concrete. There's usually a right or wrong answer. And it's not like someone created math; it was discovered, and I just think math is really cool, so yes I have always liked math.
Q: What is your favorite part of math to teach?
A: Probably stuff with technology. I haven't had much chance to do it yet, but being able to let students play around with software that show them how math works and how shapes work and how graphs of functions work. I think that's really really cool. So I can use technology when we’re doing graphs, which hopefully we will do in our class at some point when we get more into the graphing side of things and in geometry when people can create shapes and kind of manipulate the shapes and see what happens when you do something to it and and having students discover their own mathematical rules. I think that's really cool.
Q: Do you like Mashpee?
A: I do like Mashpee a lot. I moved here kind of out of the blue, and I don't know very many people in the area, but I really like it so far. I don't live in Mashpee, but I like the town where I live a lot, and from what I've seen of this area, it is really nice, and the high school is really awesome.
Q: What is something you like to do outside of school?
A: I love cooking. I like to watch football. I like to watch movies. I really like food. I do like to hang out with friends most people do.
Q: You mentioned in class that you like musicals what is your favorite and how many have you seen?
A: My favorite is probably “Phantom of the Opera.” It's a classic. It’s up there with Les Mis. I've seen probably six or seven some of them on Broadway and some in Boston or Providence. There are still really good inner city troupes, but seeing it on Broadway is really awesome. Being able to walk out of the theater and see times square is pretty sweet.
The Falconer: Where did you go to college?
Ms. Lawson: I went to college at UMass Amherst. It’s a great school. I highly recommend it to everyone. I did my undergrad in math so I studied for four years doing a bunch of different math classes, then I had a minor in anthropology actually, which was really interesting, and I got to learn some cool stuff about the world that way. And then last year I did my one-year masters degree where I was doing my student teaching and that was in education, so I have a bachelors in math and a masters degree in education both from UMass Amherst.
Q: What's your favorite part of being a teacher?
A: Of course getting to know everyone, meeting a lot of new people and also just being able to be up and doing things all day and not sitting behind a desk and just being able to interact with people of all different ages and from different places. It's a very social job, so it's one of the main reasons I like it. And I do love math; math is awesome.
Q: Have you always liked math?
A: Yes I actually have. When I was in fifth grade I would come up with these weird statistical reports that I would create myself. I was a little weird. I’ve always been good at math, and I’ve always liked math. There were times when I did want to give up in high school because it got hard, and in college it got really hard, so there were definitely times I wanted to give up. But I think it's a really cool subject, and I like how its just super concrete. There's usually a right or wrong answer. And it's not like someone created math; it was discovered, and I just think math is really cool, so yes I have always liked math.
Q: What is your favorite part of math to teach?
A: Probably stuff with technology. I haven't had much chance to do it yet, but being able to let students play around with software that show them how math works and how shapes work and how graphs of functions work. I think that's really really cool. So I can use technology when we’re doing graphs, which hopefully we will do in our class at some point when we get more into the graphing side of things and in geometry when people can create shapes and kind of manipulate the shapes and see what happens when you do something to it and and having students discover their own mathematical rules. I think that's really cool.
Q: Do you like Mashpee?
A: I do like Mashpee a lot. I moved here kind of out of the blue, and I don't know very many people in the area, but I really like it so far. I don't live in Mashpee, but I like the town where I live a lot, and from what I've seen of this area, it is really nice, and the high school is really awesome.
Q: What is something you like to do outside of school?
A: I love cooking. I like to watch football. I like to watch movies. I really like food. I do like to hang out with friends most people do.
Q: You mentioned in class that you like musicals what is your favorite and how many have you seen?
A: My favorite is probably “Phantom of the Opera.” It's a classic. It’s up there with Les Mis. I've seen probably six or seven some of them on Broadway and some in Boston or Providence. There are still really good inner city troupes, but seeing it on Broadway is really awesome. Being able to walk out of the theater and see times square is pretty sweet.