Noyce Scholar Profile
Caroline Martins
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics, high school
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Fifth year or post-baccalaureate Noyce scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
CSU Stanislaus
Current academic or teaching status:
Graduate, Credential Program
School and school district:
Turlock High School, Turlock Unified School District
Background:
I was born and raised in Turlock, California. I am the youngest in a family of four children and I am the aunt to a nephew that I absolutely adore. I worked for three years in the Recreation department at the City of Turlock where I ran various after-school programs. I am now student teaching at the same high school I graduated from just three years ago and I am attending the Credential program at CSU Stanislaus.
Why do you want to teach:
I want to teach because I want to be the motivator that gets that one student to continue his education in college and creates something great in his life. I want to be the reason that a student gets up in the morning and enjoys their day. I want to be the influence that a student needs to make good choices in their life. Overall, I want to be a teacher because teachers do not simply teach their content area, they teach about life.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
Recently I was substitute teaching in a junior high English class. Upon completing their assignment the students were to either read a book or work on homework from another class. I had a handful of students who were working on their geometry homework and asked for help. I took a small section of the whiteboard to show these students how to do the problem they were working on. Although this is a seemingly regular experience it is memorable to me because the students truly understood my explanation, participated in solving the problem, and what sticks out in my mind most is several students actually asked me to come teach their geometry class because I “actually teach it” to where they could understand it. It was truly rewarding to be able to reach the students in a way that they could grasp.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
To me the Noyce program has meant going through the Credential Program with an extra group of mentors who hold great experiences that they love to share with myself and others. The Noyce program has meant that while all of my peers complete the Credential Program I complete it with more hours of professional development than them. The Noyce program has meant that when I complete my Credential in May, I will have an outstanding resume backed by outstanding experiences that will hopefully make me more of an incredible teacher than I could have been on my own.
