Noyce Scholar Profile
Jason Miedema
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: B.S., Adolescence Education: Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Mathematics, grades 7-12
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
SUNY Cortland
Current academic or teaching status:
Junior
School and school district:
Currently, I am an AVID tutor at Ithaca High School
Background:
I am the youngest child of eight. I have been a substitute teacher at Port Jervis High School in upstate New York for the past two years. I also attended a year-long program called New Visions during my senior year of high school. New Visions is a program for students to gain observation hours and teaching skills. I attended SUNY Orange for the past two years and then transferred to SUNY Cortland.
Why do you want to teach:
My grandfather has always told me how great it is to be a teacher. I have a passion for teaching.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
A memorable teaching experience that I had actually took place on a field trip. I was a substitute teacher for a 7th grade health class at Port Jervis High School. I was the substitute for two days in a row. On the first day, the students were not well-behaved. There were many students in the class who did not like each other, so it was very difficult to control the class. The next day the students had a field trip to a YMCA camp in the middle of the woods. Each class was assigned a camp counselor to lead the activities. Most of the activities involved group work and helping each other to complete the tasks. For example, one task was to swing from a rope into a circle on the other side. The students already in the circle had to catch their classmate and keep the student in the circle. Another task involved getting all of the students on a balance beam without anyone falling off. I was amazed to see that the students were all helping each other. Just a day earlier, these same students were yelling at each other and now they were helping each other. The students all had fun, and it made me realize that just one day can make a huge difference. After the field trip was over and the students went back to the school, it seemed like the whole class was one happy family. I just thought that experience was awesome. I even had a lot of fun participating in some of the activities.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
The Noyce program has meant a lot to me. I am not loaded down with college debt. I am very thankful for the award.
