Barkley Heck

Heck's winning program, "Teacher Researchers: Helping Students Find Their Math Voice", is part of a five-year professional development project that incorporates action research targeting at-risk math students at Selbyville Middle School. The program involves capturing and analyzing video and audio of instruction and interactions between students and teachers. Heck has had the opportunity to observe academic and social behaviors of students that may have otherwise been overlooked such as the student who turned in an assignment but did not fully understand it and the student who seems to pay attention in class but is really doodling on paper. Her eyes have been opened to many of the errors the students have been making and Heck has gained more insight into how to differentiate their instruction and their assessments. The program has resulted in the desire to spend more time listening to students and probing their thinking which will include interviewing the students about their questioning and solution strategies for problem-based tasks. Heck plans to share this information with her fellow colleagues and hopes they will use the research to integrate and balance proficiency and ultimately guide sustained teaching and learning of math at the middle school level. Heck lives in Dagsboro.