Uxbridge Teacher Earns National Recognition

Uxbridge High School Principal Michael Rubin is proud to announce that Michael Smutok, a technology education and engineering teacher at UHS, has been recognized as a Project Lead The Way “Master Teacher.” 

“Being named a Master Teacher is the culmination of years of hard work and dedication to the craft of teaching,” Mr. Rubin said. “Mr. Smutok embodies many characteristics that we see in so many of our faculty members: hard-working, dedicated to continuous improvement, and willing to share his expertise with others. Our entire community shares a great deal of pride in this recognition.”

“To have someone with Mr. Smutok’s capacity, ability, and expertise on our faculty impacts our entire district,” said Dr. Patrick Dillon, Uxbridge’s Superintendent of Schools. “We see creativity and commitment across all our schools, but, in particular, it helps cultivate talent here at home when an Uxbridge educator serves as a national model.”

Master Teachers provide support to colleagues across the country in their respective courses. In addition to their regular teaching responsibilities, Master Teachers conduct core training for new teachers during the summer, host office hours for teachers, and allow educators to observe their classes, both in person and remotely, in order to become acquainted with some best practices in the classroom. In addition, Master Teachers frequently are called upon by the organization itself to test new technologies and pilot curriculum adaptations or developments.

Mr. Smutok teaches a variety of tech ed and engineering courses at UHS. He will be piloting a national revision to the Project Lead The Way “Common Capstone” course in the 2022-23 school year. In 2019, he was recognized by the Mass STEM Hub for his contributions to the STEM education community in the Commonwealth and was selected by MSH as Community Lead, a standout PLTW educator who supports other teachers across the state.  Additionally, he has also been honored as UHS’ Educator of the Year. In addition to his work at UHS, Mr. Smutok serves as an adjunct instructor for the Blackstone Valley Education Hub, through which he has instructed courses for local high schoolers and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office’s “Reentry Program,” training adults with manufacturing and employability skills.

Mr. Smutok will be one of only five master teachers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and 490 nationwide. There are more than 300 Massachusetts  schools sponsoring 397 PLTW programs in elementary, middle, and high schools,  and more than 15,600 programs in 12,400+ schools nationwide.