Principal investigators, faculty, participants, and alumni will describe the development across 10+ years of a Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Track 1 project that has come to focus on community building among all members of the group. We show how this focus first developed organically and has been capitalized upon since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Connections among multiple generations of alumni have led project staff to include intentional strategies to further develop and strengthen that specific type of relationship in an effort to support and retain STEM teachers at all stages of their careers both in our region and beyond.
Research / Evaluation, PD Models, Mentoring
Winthrop Univ
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (NOYCE)
Related Content for Building a Cross-Generational Community of STEM Educators
Discussion from the 2022 STEM For All Video Showcase (17 posts)
Kelly Costner
Lead Presenter Associate Professor
May 9, 2022 | 06:54 p.m.
Thanks for viewing our presentation! We're always excited to share about WISE, as we've now spent more than 10 years building the program and our community of STEM educators. We're currently "between" NSF funding periods (we hope!) while we shepherd our final group of scholars from the 2015-2020 grant toward degree completion and their first classrooms.
The focus of the presentation is on the community that has developed organically out of our project components through the years. We'd love to share more through dialog with you about:
project components themselves (outlined in the video);
the increase in the number of STEM educators we graduate since our first year of funding (2010) (HINT: It's more than 100%.);
the addition of a program area;
how we influenced a shift in our institution's model for secondary teacher preparation to primarily graduate level degrees (pursued after the content-based undergraduate program); and
our astounding retention rate in STEM majors (both content-only and teacher preparation) among those who participate in our summer recruitment component...
...all of which we've come to attribute largely to the supportive relationships developed among those in the WISE community. So, please—ask questions about those topics or anything else of interest from the presentation. We look forward to interacting with you!
K. Renae Pullen
Facilitator Science Specialist
May 10, 2022 | 02:24 p.m.
I absolutely LOVE how the teachers shared not only what they learned but how they developed professional relationships with other STEM teachers. That's essential because we can sometimes be an island.
I interested in learning more about how you encouraged these professional relationships and maintained that sense of community throughout the years.
Cassandra Bell
Co-Presenter Instructor and Program Coordinator
May 13, 2022 | 01:32 p.m.
Thanks for your comments and questions! In our second phase of the Noyce grant we emphasized community building with current Scholars but we also always invited back alumni Scholars. Luckily, many of our alumni remain in the area so we can stay connected but with the addition of virtual meetings during the pandemic that increased our ability to stay in touch. We offered many professional development events (Project Learning Tree training, book talks etc. )and socials (bowling, attend basketball games etc.) over the years. We also invited alumni to attend state teacher conferences with current Scholars. Many alumni also gave back and became involved as host and mentor teachers over the years. We feel fortunate so many of them have stayed involved as they are great resources to our current Scholars!
1
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K. Renae Pullen
Ann Cavallo
Facilitator Assistant Vice Provost and Director
May 11, 2022 | 12:43 p.m.
Very nice presentation of your program! How do you evaluate your program/measure its impact? For example, how many Noyce Scholars have completed the program over the years and are most still teaching and in high-need districts? I am also interested in your "near-peer" mentorship - we have a program like this also, so I would love to know how you coordinate the mentorship program and the kinds of activities Scholars engage in as mentoring. Thanks!!
Cassandra Bell
Co-Presenter Instructor and Program Coordinator
May 13, 2022 | 02:14 p.m.
As of the end of this academic year, approximately 80% of our graduated Scholars are still teaching in a STEM public school setting (n=64) over both Phase I and II of our Noyce grants. Prior to the pandemic we had a retired STEM educator as a mentor that would visit the Scholars during their first year of teaching to offer support. We converted this mentoring to virtual "near-peer" mentoring for the first time this year. It is a work in progress and we hope to continue. We used all alumni Scholars as mentors and the grant faculty met with all the pairs in a full group once in the summer, once in the Fall semester and in a final Spring meeting, we just wrapped it up this past week. We had one meeting prior to Winter break with just the mentors so we could check in and offer help. Since they all had the original mentoring experience we asked them to use that to guide them in offering support. We had them log when they met with their mentee but other than that we left if up to them how they used their time together. We encouraged them to observe either a recording or a livestream of the mentee and/or mentor's classroom if possible. Since we hope to expand and formalize this program in the future, I would love to hear more about your program also!
1
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Found helpful:
Ann Cavallo
Ann Cavallo
Facilitator Assistant Vice Provost and Director
May 15, 2022 | 11:53 a.m.
Thank you Cassandra! Our program is very similar to yours - we keep in touch with all of our graduates, invite them to conferences and seminars, and have about the same, 80% still teaching, with another 17 who graduated this year to be teaching in the fall. We started a Near-Peer mentor program, and also have a retired math and science teacher (experienced teacher in both) who provides support for graduated Scholars in their first years of teaching. On the Near-Peer program, we invited one of our "star" graduates who is teaching to lead the program and he coordinates events and assigns mentors. Building this kind of network and community is so important to the success of our teachers!
Wonderful video. The hands-on summer internship seems motivating and empowering. Are the alumni graduates of the Noyce program or are they also in-service teachers that have graduated from your education program? How do you involve your Noyce alumni and encourage them to continue to support your program?
Cassandra Bell
Co-Presenter Instructor and Program Coordinator
May 13, 2022 | 01:42 p.m.
Thanks, Audrey! Yes, the alumni are both graduates of the Noyce program and in-service teachers that graduated from our University. We have emphasized team building with current Noyce Scholars but always invite back our alumni and quite a few stay in touch this way. Many that live in the area give back to our Noyce program by coming to talk with the current Scholars and/or serving as host or mentor teachers to our Scholars during their student teaching experiences. We have also been able to reach some alumni virtually that no longer live in the area. Additionally, we have utilized some alumni to help us virtually mentor our First Year Teacher Scholars this year.
Thank you it has been such a pleasure to watch the network grow, our graduates impact STEM education, and the natural mentoring that occurs in a variety of settings.
Nice to see this successful NOYCE program. I work quite a bit with HS teachers (more through in-service Research Experience for Teachers) opportunities but really want to find a way to impact STEM majors and help them see a path toward being a STEM teacher. You have given me some great ideas to think about. Thank you for what you are doing to help elevate the teaching profession!
Kelly Costner
Lead Presenter Associate Professor
May 16, 2022 | 03:48 p.m.
Thanks, John--so glad you see something here that could be of use in your setting. Sounds like you could have some natural connections through your Research Experience for Teachers project. We'd love to hear what comes of it!
Brian Foley
Facilitator Professor
May 14, 2022 | 09:14 p.m.
WISE seems like an example of what we want Noyce programs to be. By keeping the alumnae connected to the program you are providing an more friendly network to support new teachers. Really seems almost like a family. That seems like just what students need to get off to a successful teaching career.
Kelly Costner
Lead Presenter Associate Professor
May 16, 2022 | 03:54 p.m.
Brian, we totally agree: WISE is a family overall, and we're starting to look at how we could better utilize the branch system of our family tree to ensure ongoing support and strengthen what we have. So far, we've been fortunate to watch this develop and evolve organically, and we're now convinced we should be more intentional about the relationships component.
This is a wonderful video! I love the connections that the teachers made and how they all stay connected. I would like to replicate something like this in the future. Thank you for sharing!
Kelly Costner
Lead Presenter Associate Professor
May 16, 2022 | 04:04 p.m.
Paige, we're glad our experience might inform your future work. Please know that we first just focused on content-based and professional development experiences, and the relationships just happened. We were a bit surprised to find later just how connected our alums had become (and remained)! Since we learned of that, we've become more cognizant of how we design events and activities so that connections can be made, and we're looking toward becoming even more overtly focused on relationships in the future. We'd love to chat--stay in touch!
Thanks for sharing this. We have also found the relationships develop through interactions and projects. Though we have taken a different approach, the outcome and sharing post-graduation is great to see.
Kelly Costner
Associate Professor
Thanks for viewing our presentation! We're always excited to share about WISE, as we've now spent more than 10 years building the program and our community of STEM educators. We're currently "between" NSF funding periods (we hope!) while we shepherd our final group of scholars from the 2015-2020 grant toward degree completion and their first classrooms.
The focus of the presentation is on the community that has developed organically out of our project components through the years. We'd love to share more through dialog with you about:
...all of which we've come to attribute largely to the supportive relationships developed among those in the WISE community. So, please—ask questions about those topics or anything else of interest from the presentation. We look forward to interacting with you!
K. Renae Pullen
Science Specialist
I absolutely LOVE how the teachers shared not only what they learned but how they developed professional relationships with other STEM teachers. That's essential because we can sometimes be an island.
I interested in learning more about how you encouraged these professional relationships and maintained that sense of community throughout the years.
Cassandra Bell
Instructor and Program Coordinator
Thanks for your comments and questions! In our second phase of the Noyce grant we emphasized community building with current Scholars but we also always invited back alumni Scholars. Luckily, many of our alumni remain in the area so we can stay connected but with the addition of virtual meetings during the pandemic that increased our ability to stay in touch. We offered many professional development events (Project Learning Tree training, book talks etc. )and socials (bowling, attend basketball games etc.) over the years. We also invited alumni to attend state teacher conferences with current Scholars. Many alumni also gave back and became involved as host and mentor teachers over the years. We feel fortunate so many of them have stayed involved as they are great resources to our current Scholars!
K. Renae Pullen
Ann Cavallo
Assistant Vice Provost and Director
Very nice presentation of your program! How do you evaluate your program/measure its impact? For example, how many Noyce Scholars have completed the program over the years and are most still teaching and in high-need districts? I am also interested in your "near-peer" mentorship - we have a program like this also, so I would love to know how you coordinate the mentorship program and the kinds of activities Scholars engage in as mentoring. Thanks!!
Cassandra Bell
Instructor and Program Coordinator
As of the end of this academic year, approximately 80% of our graduated Scholars are still teaching in a STEM public school setting (n=64) over both Phase I and II of our Noyce grants. Prior to the pandemic we had a retired STEM educator as a mentor that would visit the Scholars during their first year of teaching to offer support. We converted this mentoring to virtual "near-peer" mentoring for the first time this year. It is a work in progress and we hope to continue. We used all alumni Scholars as mentors and the grant faculty met with all the pairs in a full group once in the summer, once in the Fall semester and in a final Spring meeting, we just wrapped it up this past week. We had one meeting prior to Winter break with just the mentors so we could check in and offer help. Since they all had the original mentoring experience we asked them to use that to guide them in offering support. We had them log when they met with their mentee but other than that we left if up to them how they used their time together. We encouraged them to observe either a recording or a livestream of the mentee and/or mentor's classroom if possible. Since we hope to expand and formalize this program in the future, I would love to hear more about your program also!
Ann Cavallo
Ann Cavallo
Assistant Vice Provost and Director
Thank you Cassandra! Our program is very similar to yours - we keep in touch with all of our graduates, invite them to conferences and seminars, and have about the same, 80% still teaching, with another 17 who graduated this year to be teaching in the fall. We started a Near-Peer mentor program, and also have a retired math and science teacher (experienced teacher in both) who provides support for graduated Scholars in their first years of teaching. On the Near-Peer program, we invited one of our "star" graduates who is teaching to lead the program and he coordinates events and assigns mentors. Building this kind of network and community is so important to the success of our teachers!
Audrey Cohan
Wonderful video. The hands-on summer internship seems motivating and empowering. Are the alumni graduates of the Noyce program or are they also in-service teachers that have graduated from your education program? How do you involve your Noyce alumni and encourage them to continue to support your program?
Cassandra Bell
Instructor and Program Coordinator
Thanks, Audrey! Yes, the alumni are both graduates of the Noyce program and in-service teachers that graduated from our University. We have emphasized team building with current Noyce Scholars but always invite back our alumni and quite a few stay in touch this way. Many that live in the area give back to our Noyce program by coming to talk with the current Scholars and/or serving as host or mentor teachers to our Scholars during their student teaching experiences. We have also been able to reach some alumni virtually that no longer live in the area. Additionally, we have utilized some alumni to help us virtually mentor our First Year Teacher Scholars this year.
Audrey Cohan
Thank you. A wonderful program!
Beth Costner
Professor and Interim Dean
Thank you it has been such a pleasure to watch the network grow, our graduates impact STEM education, and the natural mentoring that occurs in a variety of settings.
John Kaup
Nice to see this successful NOYCE program. I work quite a bit with HS teachers (more through in-service Research Experience for Teachers) opportunities but really want to find a way to impact STEM majors and help them see a path toward being a STEM teacher. You have given me some great ideas to think about. Thank you for what you are doing to help elevate the teaching profession!
Kelly Costner
Associate Professor
Thanks, John--so glad you see something here that could be of use in your setting. Sounds like you could have some natural connections through your Research Experience for Teachers project. We'd love to hear what comes of it!
Brian Foley
Professor
WISE seems like an example of what we want Noyce programs to be. By keeping the alumnae connected to the program you are providing an more friendly network to support new teachers. Really seems almost like a family. That seems like just what students need to get off to a successful teaching career.
Kelly Costner
Associate Professor
Brian, we totally agree: WISE is a family overall, and we're starting to look at how we could better utilize the branch system of our family tree to ensure ongoing support and strengthen what we have. So far, we've been fortunate to watch this develop and evolve organically, and we're now convinced we should be more intentional about the relationships component.
Paige Evans
This is a wonderful video! I love the connections that the teachers made and how they all stay connected. I would like to replicate something like this in the future. Thank you for sharing!
Kelly Costner
Associate Professor
Paige, we're glad our experience might inform your future work. Please know that we first just focused on content-based and professional development experiences, and the relationships just happened. We were a bit surprised to find later just how connected our alums had become (and remained)! Since we learned of that, we've become more cognizant of how we design events and activities so that connections can be made, and we're looking toward becoming even more overtly focused on relationships in the future. We'd love to chat--stay in touch!
Paul Adams
Thanks for sharing this. We have also found the relationships develop through interactions and projects. Though we have taken a different approach, the outcome and sharing post-graduation is great to see.
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.