Noyce Scholar Profile
Sara Ashley
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics, grades 9-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
Texas Tech University
Current academic or teaching status:
Senior
School and school district:
Student Teaching-New Deal High School
Background:
I am a mother of two who has a real passion for teaching. I really enjoy my content area and sharing that joy with my students. Although I am only student teaching right now, I know more than ever I was meant to teach. Right now I am a private tutor and a full-time student at Texas Tech University. I have always enjoyed math, and it was my best subject.
Why do you want to teach:
I love to help students expand their knowledge about mathematics. Most students out there think that math is the enemy when in reality it is all around them. I want my students to realize that math can be fun, and not just about computing solutions using various formulas. I also want my students to know that I am there for them. I will not just be their math teacher. When I start a full-time teaching position, I hope that I can be involved in many extracurricular activities. When I was in high school, math was always my best subject, but I loved band and choir as well. I want to encourage students to not only be involved in their school work but in others activities as well.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
I currently tutor for an outreach center here in Lubbock. One of my students is taking this course for the second time. Her outlook on math is that she should suffer through it so she can move on to the subjects that she would really enjoy. She is in a remedial college math course. In the beginning of the semester, she was starting to re-learn her integer rules. I explained the way I see it to her, and in a different way than her professor had. She told me that the way I used made much more sense and made her think about how she could use the integer rules in a new way. The next time we met, she told me that she had started to like math. Now that math wasn’t something she had to suffer through anymore she realized it was just a matter of applying concepts and not memorizing formulas.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
The Noyce Program has enabled me to afford school so that I can graduate faster. Before I got the scholarship I was only taking 2 or 3 courses at a time because I had to pay for daycare for my children as well. The scholarship made it possible for me to graduate this May. Also, the mentoring in the program has helped me immensely. I was able to keep my head above water and pass my classes. Going to school is difficult since I am a mother, tutor, and full-time student. My mentor with the program is also a mother and knows what I am going through. Another professor in the Texas Tech Noyce Program has also been there for all of us with tutoring or mentoring help if we need it. It is an enormous asset to have people supporting you. That is what I want to do for my students. Without the Noyce Program, I know that I would not be able to do what I love–teach.
