- Year 2019
- NSF Noyce Award # 1758243
- First Name Cindy
- Last Name Callard
- Discipline Biology, Chemistry, Geosciences, Math, Physics
- Co-PI(s)
Michael Daley, University of Rochester, mdaley@warner.rochester.edu; John Kessler, University of Rochester, john.kessler@rochester.edu; Raffaella Borasi, University of Rochester, rborasi@warner.rochester.edu; David Miller, University of Rochester, dmiller@warner.rochester.edu
- Presenters
Michael Daley, University of Rochester, mdaley@warner.rochester.edu; Jason McMurray, East Irondequiut Central School, mcmurray.jason.a@gmail.com
Need
A common challenge of Noyce MTF projects is to secure a strong group of committed and innovative STEM teachers, who will be able not only to benefit from the training, but also to stick through the entire 5-year intensive program. As we learned in our first MTF project, documents, interviews and even classroom observations are often not enough to determine the fit of the candidates for the program. Instead, we have found that requiring applicants to participate in a free workshop as part of the selection process provides valuable complementary information.
Goals
1. What is the potential value and role of a workshop as part of the recruiting process for Master Teaching Fellowship projects? 2. What design elements are effective in the recruiting workshops?
Approach
In order to be a useful recruiting and selection tool, a workshop needs to be designed so as to provide participants a ‘taste’ of the learning experiences they will engage in as part of the MTF training program, as well as opportunities to demonstrate their openness to explore new ways of teaching and learning (or not). We have found it especially important to include a combination of ‘experiences as learners’ and analysis of classroom videos featuring the kind of STEM instruction being promoted, together with activities related to the mentoring/leadership roles the prospective MTFs are being prepared for.
Outcomes
We discovered the value of adding a workshop to the recruiting process through experience in our first Noyce MTF project. At the time, we did not realize how significant the workshop would be in recruiting a strong MTF cohort. In our current MTF project, we carefully designed a workshop and captured feedback from fellows and project leaders. Perspectives from both a candidate and a project leader will be shared in this poster presentation. Additionally, data gathered from the post-workshop survey will be shared. The data provides further evidence of the value of the workshop in the recruiting process.
Broader Impacts
We will share more details about the design of our recruiting workshop for MTFs, along with an analysis of how data from this experience were combined with other information collected as part of the application process to select strong candidates. This information will provide design guidance for other MTF leaders entering the recruiting phase of their projects.
