Noyce Scholar Profile
Carlin Bright
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Civil Engineering
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Physics, grades 9-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Master Teaching Fellow
Name of Noyce institution:
Kennesaw State University
Current academic or teaching status:
1 year teaching experience
School and school district:
Ola High School, Henry County
Background:
I’m a school lover. I was in the IB program at Campbell High before going on to Georgia Tech for Engineering. I was a co-op student, working in a firm every other semester. In my fifth and last year I realized I didn’t want to be an engineer, and that teaching was my calling. I started at Kennesaw after graduating from Georgia Tech and taught one year at Pebblebrook High School (Cobb County) before looking for a new job, finding one at Ola High School for the 2013-2014 school year.
Why do you want to teach:
I loved being in school, yet even my peers who I thought loved it as much as me expressed a dissatisfaction with high school. I want to help make learning fun. I had a handful of truly amazing teachers, and if I can be that kind of teacher for someone else I would jump at the chance.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
I have been tutoring a lot over the past year instead of teaching. There was one girl in particular who was having a bad day and having trouble focusing. I was working with another student for a moment, and we were going over synthetic division, which was fuzzy for me at the time. I was about to look it up when the girl, who knew the concept, offered to teach it to both of us. She did a great job, and was in a great mood for the rest of the day. It supports my feeling that teaching should not be one-sided, but a collaboration. There is no way that I am going to know everything. My job is to make everyone want to learn, and to seek knowledge either with or without my help.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
Noyce has been extremely supportive in the face of the extremely difficult task of teaching unwilling ninth graders math. Every time I talk to my advisors and the other Noyce scholars, I am inspired all over again. There is always something new to learn and a new way of thinking about the world that just opens your eyes even more.
