John Kerrigan (@kerrigan_john) | #BowTieTuesday
Introduction: This week’s #BowTieTuesday Educator Spotlight goes to an educator that I met through a mutual experience. We connected through Twitter and I noticed he had completed the doctoral journey that I am currently on in addition to being a fellow math educator and the rest is history! The Edu-Rock Star that I’ll be recognizing this week is none other than Mr. John Kerrigan (@kerrigan_john), a Director of Mathematics of K-12 at Middletown Township Public Schools and part-time lecturer at Rutgers University in the Math Department.
Educational Pursuit: John has just surpassed the decade mark in education, having earned his bachelors and masters degree in mathematics and mathematics education, respectively from Rutgers. He left the banks of the old Raritan to obtain a masters in educational leadership from NJCU but ultimately returned to obtain his Ed.D. in the Design of Educational Learning Environments from Rutgers. Having enjoyed learning mathematics as a child and having some very challenging high school mathematics teachers who challenged him to think harder than he ever had to before, John was compelled to pursue a career in education. Plus, John always had great admiration for all of his teachers for the work they did, so he just wanted to follow in their footsteps.
Most Memorable Moment: Having a plethora to select from, John settled on overseeing the senior internship program during his first year as an assistant principal. He was lucky to have many of these students as underclassmen in his math classes, some even more than one year. He found it extremely rewarding to learn more about their career interests and work with them on a more personal level to develop their abilities outside of the math classroom during their senior year. Now, these students keep in touch with him while they are in college to keep him updated on their educational and career pursuits.
Personal Learning Interests: As I had mentioned previously, now that John has completed his doctoral journey he is continuing to learn more about blended learning in both the K-12 and the university settings. At Rutgers, he is working on a project with “learning assistants” in two different types of undergraduate flipped classrooms. In the K-12 setting, he is working with his math coaches and teachers to model effective ways to blend mathematics instruction with the programs they have. It’s exciting and interesting work that inspires him to be better!
The Fun Stuff
John’s go-to Karaoke Song: Just about anything from the ’80s.
John’s Inside Scoop: John is an avid bicyclist and also enjoys quiet reading at the beach.
John, thank you for your heartfelt efforts to improve education each and every day you step foot inside a classroom. Our impromptu conversations regarding everything from EdCamp to the doctorate to life, in general, have had an invaluable impact on myself and my PLN. I truly appreciate all that you do to keep moving education forward.
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Bow-Tie Joe
