Middle and High School Education Students and Alumni Spotlights

Khalia Alleyne (contact me)
MAT, History, 2016

After graduating Spelman College with a degree in history, I enrolled in Tufts MAT program. While pursing my masters, I was a UTTC intern in the humanities department at Boston Arts Academy. This was a pivotal experience, as it opened my eyes to a school community committed to developing the whole child.

Currently, I am working as an English and literature teacher at Maranyundo Girls School (MGS) located in Nyamata, Rwanda. Teaching at MGS has been both thought provoking and transformative. I have been introduced to different ways of doing school and I have a new outlook on girls STEM education. Girls are interested in STEM education and careers, however they do need the exposure to woman predecessors in the STEM field. Additionally, girls should be introduced to how a career in STEM fits in with their skills and interests. During my time at MGS, I have continually witnessed an inspiring community of girls who support and empower one another to be the best version of themselves. My goal is to assist the MGS girls in developing their voice and their will to pursue their dreams.

Daphne François (contact me)
MAT, Latin and Classical Humanities, 2015

Currently, I am teaching middle school Latin at Boston Latin Academy. This is my second year teaching five sections of 8th grade full time at BLA. Before I was a teacher at BLA, I taught secondary level Latin for one year at a charter school in Boston and another year at an independent school in New York.

When I was first hired at Boston Latin Academy, I simultaneously enrolled in the Tufts MAT program. During my year of teaching at BLA and enrollment in the educator's program at Tufts, I realized how fortunate I was to experience an educator's program that encouraged honesty with regards to teaching practice, celebrated the wonder and excitement of education and cared to nurture conscientious educators for students of the 21st century. The Tufts MAT program provided the ideal support and mentoring that I wish every aspiring educator should and could have.

Thomas Snarsky (contact me)
MAT, Mathematics, 2015

I teach math at Malden High School in Malden, Massachusetts, the same school where I did my student teaching as part of the Tufts MAT program. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work at the same school I interned at — my first year of teaching made it feel like I already belonged, and that feeling was invaluable to me as a beginning educator.

At Tufts, I learned a lot about the way students make sense of new ideas, and I'm very interested in the idea of sense-making as the foundation of a democratic thought process. Teaching is the aspirational work of sharing this experience with our students every day — sometimes successfully, and sometimes less than perfectly so! Either way, the work is engaging and fun, and Tufts provided me with a solid foundation to begin & continue that work.

Nathaniel Granitto Smith (contact me)
MAT in Secondary English Education, 2014

I have been teaching English since 2014, first at Salem High School English Department and now at Reading Memorial High School.

I come to the teaching profession after a wide range of educational experiences myself. I always loved English, but majored in Geography as an undergraduate. I valued my education programs outside the classroom (NOLS; SEA Semester) as much as my traditional academic study. Before teaching, I worked in software, public bike systems infrastructure, and bookselling. The Tufts M.A.T. program provided me a way to channel my passion for education into the public school system. Taking part in the MAT program as a member of the Urban Teacher Training Collaborative enhanced this preparation. It gave me time and experience in a school with plenty of opportunity for practice and reflection. My professors and classmates demanded a level of critical thinking and a commitment to equity and equality that will continue to drive my practice for years to come.