How Academics and Belonging Align: A Q&A with STEM Teacher James Sweeney

By Bethany Stotler, Director of Communications and Marketing

away from campus, and I saw students in class or on a duty weekend. But now, I see them walking across campus or playing sports, and certain students are surprising — they're so quiet in class, and then on the field or the court, suddenly they're a completely different person. Those little moments are nice to have when you are in the community with them all the time.

How have the adults helped bring you into the community?

James Sweeney grew up in Maryland, attended Coker University in South Carolina, where he studied mathematics and computer science, then continued his studies at the University of South Carolina, pursuing his Ph.D. in mathematics. After graduation, he taught at Coker for three years before coming to Foxcroft in 2021. Dr. Sweeney teaches AP Calculus and Algebra II & Trigonometry, coaches soccer (a lifelong passion), and is a member of the dorm team in Reynolds, where he and his wife live with their two dogs. He’s enthusiastically embraced the all-encompassing nature of living and working at Foxcroft, and we recently asked him about finding his place here.

Now in your second year at Foxcroft, how has your experience been joining the community?

I feel like I dove in headfirst. I enjoy all the traditions. I really like Fox/Hound, and graduation was awesome. For the first three months last year, I asked myself, ‘What's it going to be like?’ but by the spring, I felt like I had been here for a long time.

The students seem to like me for some reason; they have mentioned me in speeches and put me in skits. Hanging out with the seniors in Calc, they weren’t like, ‘This is just some person we’ve only known for one of our four years.’ We bonded, even though they didn't know me for as long as their other teachers.

Do you feel like your experience has changed since you moved on campus?

Yes. This year, one of the biggest differences is I've gone to multiple sporting events, seeing the girls in a different arena. Last year we lived far

In general, all my fellow faculty members have helped me out — we have lunch together and all that. The STEM faculty all bounce ideas about what's working in our classes, what's not, and what can we change to make it better. At Faculty Conversations, which is every other week, we talk with other faculty about things they’re seeing in their classrooms. Being able to talk to other teachers about teaching is really beneficial. My mentor last year was [Director of The Innovation Lab and History Department Chair] Alex Northrup. If I ever had a question, I could ask him. Just knowing he was always there as a resource was really useful.

You use Mastery Learning in your pedagogy. What does Mastery Learning mean, and why do it?

Mastery-based learning requires students to demonstrate proficiency in an individual skill set. It allows students to retake and reassess as they continue to work towards that goal. I use it in my class to ensure that all students have built the foundational skills necessary to tackle the next mathematical concept. For example, thanks to the weekly skill checks at the beginning of the year, I knew who needed more help with negative numbers and who didn’t understand fractions. It is also much easier to correct misconceptions over one concept than an entire unit.

What does a typical day in your classroom look like?

Students in my class are in the driver's seat. Any student could be working on learning a new skill through a video, attempting practice problems, or demonstrating their understanding on a skill check. That allows me to move around the classroom and work with individuals and small groups to help the students that need it most. Because the class is selfpaced, students are not required to be on a specific lesson on a specific day.

How do you foster a sense of belonging for students in your classroom?

I get to have one-on-one mini-tutorial sessions with many students throughout a single class. I talk to individual students more often than I ever did before this change and really get to know them. The big thing I'm trying to do this year is foster a growth mindset. I tell them, ‘When I learned this stuff, I didn't get 100% the first time I took that test.’ It takes time to learn all this. When they're doing practice problems and get them wrong, we can talk about it, and then they can do better. If they do a quiz and don’t do great, they can redo it and do better.

And is that part of your masterybased learning approach?

Algebra II is fully mastery-based; the only grades they get are for the skills. Calculus has some other grades mixed in, too, but in terms of the test, that is all mastery-based — you can keep redoing the skill until you know it, understand it, and can do it. We have to make sure they have their foundation before moving on to the next thing. So in

Algebra II, I don't want to get to Unit Four, and they still don’t understand Unit One.

How do you think that'll serve them in a class that's not masterybased learning?

Even if a student takes an assessment and they don't do as well as they thought they would, they still have developed the mindset of ‘I can still learn after an assessment.’ So it's not this deadline where all learning for Unit One stops. We can keep learning Unit One as we're doing Unit Two or even later than that. Say they’re in Spanish and didn't learn, or forgot, the word for ‘stapler’ — it doesn't mean they can't learn the word ‘stapler’ later. Knowing they’ve got to go back and relearn is a skill they can apply outside of my class.

Do you have any specific ways you hope to incorporate this year’s theme into your work?

With “Be Well,” I think the self-pacing I'm doing in Algebra II is good for that. I have a questionnaire they fill out at the start of class, and one question asks, ‘How are you feeling today?’— ‘I'm okay,’ ‘I'm doing great,’ ‘I'm not doing great.’ Once in a while, a student clicks the ‘not doing great’ button, and I know on that day, maybe I'm not expecting them to do a bunch of work. If they do get something done, that’s a good accomplishment for them.’ There also are opportunities throughout the class to take a mental break. I have coloring books in the back if they need five or 10 minutes to do something other than math. I've had students step out of class and walk around the hallway for a bit because there's too much going on, and they couldn't focus. They always come back and get back to work. Having that five minutes is really useful for them, and if you give them a five-minute break in the middle, they'll be more productive than if you try to make them work for the entire time straight.

Knowing that you can make mistakes is kind of a hard thing to buy into for a student, but in small ways, with retakes and one-on-one help in the classroom, my hope is they’ll find they can speak up and collaborate. I think it's hard to do, but when they get that, it's really beneficial.•

Learn more about Dr. Sweeney’s mastery-based approach on Foxcroft’s “It’s Academic” faculty blog at https://foxcroftfaculty.wordpress.com/.

11. Dr. Sweeney works at the whiteboard with Kaden Weatherford ’26 during his Algebra II/Trigonometry class.

12. A proud Fox and enthusiastic participant in all things Foxcroft, Dr. Sweeney sports a pink tutu during the campus-wide walk for breast cancer awareness.

During the summer of 2022, Dr. Sweeny was the recipient of a Kenan Summer Grant, which provides funding for faculty to study, do research, or work on a project that applies to their classroom.

How did you benefit from the Kenan Summer Grant?

The Kenan Grant was instrumental not only in helping me develop this course but also in making it as successful as it has been. The planning time required to design each unit and curate all the materials students use when working at their own pace is vast. So having that head start on the semester and time to iterate on the design helped me begin this school year with something I can be proud of.

For more information on the Kenan Summer Grant program and recipients, see pg. 5 of this issue.