Noyce Scholar Profile
Hannah Hysell
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics Education
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics, grades 7-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
University of Rio Grande SEOCEMS
Current academic or teaching status:
Junior
School and school district:
N/A
Background:
I grew up in Pomeroy, Ohio and graduated from Eastern High School in 2010. In high school, I was a member of the National Honor Society where I did multiple community service projects. While at the University of Rio Grande, I have done observation hours in local schools and will soon be doing field experience. At the University of Rio Grande, I am in the Honors program.
Why do you want to teach:
I have always loved mathematics. It is one thing that I could never stop loving. I have always enjoyed helping others to better understand it, so the choice to become a math teacher was very easy for me. I feel many people dislike mathematics. I want to bring a positive and fun side to it so that students can enjoy it as much as I do, while learning more than they ever would have thought was possible. I want students to walk out of my classes feeling like they have truly learned something, and therefore have bettered themselves.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
At this point, I have mostly just done observation hours,but one memorable thing happened recently. A student in a freshman algebra class that I was observing was having a hard time grasping the topic of the FOIL method and how to do it. After a brief explanation of the FOIL method, worded in a way that all could understand, this student’s “lightbulb” lit up, and she was excited to announce that she finally understood. The rest of the class the student had a huge smile on her face and said things like “This is my favorite thing we’ve done all year.” This was memorable for me because the student went from frustration over not understanding the topic to loving it after it was taught to her in a way that she could understand. It was exciting to see the students enjoying the math as much as I do. I hope that I can accomplish that with my students in my future classroom.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
The Noyce program means a lot to me for many different reasons. First, it is a great help financially because it pays for a lot of my schooling. Therefore, it helps me achieve my goal of getting a degree in education without so much stress and worrying about how to pay for it. Also, it provides a great network of other teachers and educators. It is nice to be able to read about other teaching experiences and to be able to share mine.
