Noyce Scholar Profile
Anthony Gillman
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: AYA Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics, grades 7-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
SEOCEMS Noyce Scholars Program at the University of Rio Grande
Current academic or teaching status:
Senior, 12 weeks of student teaching
School and school district:
River Valley Middle School, Gallia County Local Schools
Background:
I was born and raised in southeastern Ohio. I am 34 years old, married, and a father of three children. I am at the final stages of a full career change. Prior to starting college almost four years ago, I was traveling the country in an 18-wheeler working for Atlas Van Lines as a professional mover, or owner-operator. I was required to coordinate just about every aspect needed to relocate a family from point A to point B. After ten years of back breaking and stressful work that kept me from home, I decided to make a career change. With the support of my friends and family, I decided to pursue a career in education. I have also actively helped coach and run the local youth basketball organization for the last four years.
Why do you want to teach:
I want to help guide young men and women to happy and successful lives. I find it very fulfilling to teach not only mathematical concepts, but life skills as well. I do not believe that there are many truly bad people in the world, and my passion is to help everyone I can. I would much rather be wealthy in my heart than in my pocket. I am confident that I have chosen the path of best fit.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
The first time my advisor came out to observe me teach I had a very exciting and unexpected thing happen. I was teaching a lesson on the sum of the measures of interior angles of a polygon and was able to guide the students in a derivation of the formula. This was not planned, it just sort of happened. This was very exciting to me. Well I found out that my master teacher was concerned that I had wasted time on a concept that wasn’t an indicator. Even though I felt like the lesson was outstanding, I was robbed of my excitement by reality. I learned a valuable lesson that day. I now realize that it is important to teach good concepts, but it is also important to make sure to cover the standards too. It will be my job to find the balance between the two.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
I have not been able to take full advantage of the Noyce program. Scheduling conflicts have kept me from attending any conferences so far. I have enjoyed sharing beliefs and personal stories with other Noyce scholars online. This is a great benefit in itself. It is nice to have other professionals to discuss my issues with. The financial aspect of the scholarship allows me to focus less on financial concerns and more on getting the most out of my studies and experiences. I feel very fortunate to be a part of something as special as this.
