Teacher Portfolio — Matt Bennett

About

Professional Profile

Teacher Resume — Matt Bennett

Educator and curriculum developer with 10+ years in program management, workforce development, and environmental education. Currently completing the Temple Teacher Residency (M.Ed. Secondary Math, Graduate Certificate in ESOL).

Secondary Math & ESOL certification candidate — Temple University, anticipated July 2026
Permaculture Design Faculty, Cornell University
Project Manager & Lead Trainer, PowerCorpsPHL — curriculum for 100+ opportunity youth
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Boston University

Classroom Teaching Tools

Classroom Projection

Exponent Intro — Teaching Slides

A 7-slide full-screen projection tool for whole-class instruction on exponents and roots. All text meets the 30-foot legibility standard for classroom smartboards.

Introduces exponent notation with integer, fraction, and variable bases
Math As A Second Language (MASL) vocabulary slide — students learn to read expressions aloud before solving them
Factor tree slides for square, cube, and higher-order roots (√9, ∛27, ∜16) with a blank practice tree (∝7)
Equivalence slide connecting radical notation (∛8) to fractional exponents (8⅓) and numeric values
Keyboard navigation (arrow keys) and Prev / Next buttons

Interactive Reference

Exponent & Roots — Visual Reference

A comprehensive interactive visual reference covering the full exponent and roots unit, built for teacher-led review and independent student exploration.

Covers the same core concepts as the Teaching Slides with additional depth
Consistent semantic color-coding: blue for exponent form, green for expanded form, amber for equivalence callouts, purple for student fill-in
SVG factor tree diagrams illustrating root structure visually
Full keyboard and button navigation

Classroom Management

Visibly Random — Student Group Generator ↗

A free, browser-based tool for creating random student groups transparently. No login required — runs entirely in the browser, no data stored.

Smart roster parser — paste in any format (grade-book exports, comma-separated, numbered lists); automatically cleans messy data and duplicate names
Absence tracking — click any student before grouping to mark them absent; excluded from groups automatically
Flexible group sizing — set either the number of groups or members per group
70+ subject-themed group names across 10 categories: Math, Science, English, History, Art, Music, Languages, PE, Cross-Disciplinary, and Random
Fullscreen smartboard mode for whole-class reveal with animated group assignment
Save and reload rosters locally — double-click a saved file to instantly restore a class list

Research

Research Report

Teaching Math to Multilingual Learners

A research synthesis drawing from WIDA, NCTM, NCSM/TODOS, Stanford Understanding Language, EDC, and peer-reviewed sources. Covers the evidence base behind language-aware math instruction.

BICS vs. CALP — why conversational fluency doesn't equal academic language readiness
Specific word problem challenges: passive voice, polysemous words, sentence complexity
Vocabulary instruction strategies, including cognates for Spanish speakers
Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs), including the Three-Read Protocol
Translanguaging as a mathematical asset
WIDA framework and the three dimensions of academic language

Pedagogy Reference

Illustrative Mathematics — Pedagogical Foundations ↗

A reference report on the research base behind Illustrative Mathematics (IM) curriculum design, written for sharing with colleagues, mentor teachers, and instructional coaches. Covers the philosophy, lesson structure, and language routines that define the IM approach — and how Math As A Second Language (MASL) scaffolding integrates within it.

Problem-based learning and constructivist foundations (Hiebert, Piaget, Vygotsky, NRC)
IM lesson architecture: Warm-Up → Activities (Launch / Work / Synthesis) → Lesson Synthesis → Cool-Down
All 8 Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs) with quick-reference guide
Informal → formal language progression and teacher facilitation role
Where MASL vocabulary cards belong in an IM lesson (always after activity synthesis)
Implementation checklist for IM + MASL integration

Development Standards

Reference Document

Amplify Activity Coding Standards

Single-source reference for all conventions used when building interactive Amplify math activities.

Why this document matters Amplify’s Computation Layer is a proprietary reactive DSL — not standard JavaScript — and its official documentation sits behind authentication. Without a shared standard, each new activity risks inconsistent color semantics, broken feedback logic, inaccessible font sizes, and CL scripts that cannot be maintained or reused. This document captures every hard-won decision: the four-color semantic system that lets students navigate by color rather than reading every label; minimum text sizes derived from optometry research for 30-foot classroom visibility; input normalization patterns that prevent false negatives from whitespace and symbol variants; and platform quirks (no cross-screen state, no LaTeX in MC feedback, submission gating) that are not publicly documented. It is the authoritative standard for every new activity built in this system.