The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program

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James

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Noyce Scholar Profile

James Knuuttila

Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics

Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics, grades 9-12

Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Fifth year or post-baccalaureate Noyce scholar

Name of Noyce institution:
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Current academic or teaching status:
First-year teacher

School and school district:
Durfee High School, Fall River, MA

Background:

I have been into math since I was a freshman in high school, but it wasn’t until I got to college that I started to see how fast it was coming to me compared to my peers. I got hired to be a math tutor at the university, and quickly learned that being a tutor wasn’t work. For me, it was just talking about math, and I felt right at home.

Why do you want to teach:

I wanted to teach because I wanted to help fix the problems in society. Too many people were coming into the university without a foundation in algebra and geometry. Since tutoring worked out great for five years and is still going strong, I decided to move my services into the classroom and teach math the way it should be talked about.

Describe a memorable teaching experience:

A student from my student teaching experience went from being a gang leader, a thick-shelled, angry girl to being a happy, energetic student who realized that through constant positive reinforcement she could improve her math grade from a low F, to a C and then to a A at the end of the year. It all started when she got a 100 on a test and realized that she did have the ability to learn. She now wants to go to college to study criminal justice.

What does the Noyce program mean to you:

The Noyce program has provided an opportunity to earn my initial license and be able to make mistakes in the classroom without getting penalized for it.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant Numbers DUE-2041597 and DUE-1548986. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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