Noyce Scholar Profile
Amanda Moore
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Middle Childhood Education
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: Science, Social Studies, grades 6-8
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Fifth year or post-baccalaureate Noyce scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
Ohio University SEOCEMS
Current academic or teaching status:
1st Year Graduate Student
School and school district:
Student Teaching, Nelsonville York Elementary
Background:
I was previously in a master’s program for speech communication and was given a wonderful opportunity to teach public speaking as part of my assistantship. It was here that I realized that the classroom would forever feel more like home than the confines of any office building. I then began pursuing a license in education after some brief experience working as a broker for malpractice insurance for physicians and other allied health care professionals. Now I am on to bigger and better things very soon!
Why do you want to teach:
I want to prepare students for whatever they might encounter as they grow up. I want to prepare them to be effective citizens, parents, employees, employers, and for the numerous other roles they will be required to play throughout their life. More importantly, I want to prepare them for these things so that they are happier and more successful than they would have been had they never entered my classroom.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
I was a substitute teacher in a high school classroom and was quickly running out of lesson plans for the students. It was one of those moments where I could see that I would lose control very soon if I didn’t make up something for them to do. I decided to tell a riddle which went something like this: There is a room and in the middle of the room there is a table. On the floor, there is a dead body, some water, and broken glass. On the wall, there is an open window. I then explained deductive and inductive reasoning and gave them the option to ask “yes” or “no” questions in order to figure out what happened in the room. The students worked at it for the rest of the period, but did not find the answer. However, several students came to me at the end of the day with further questions or begging for the answer. I realized even those students who people might believe do not want to learn, really do and are willing to work at it. I want to never forget this as I stand in my own classroom teaching my students things they need to know for life.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
The Noyce Program has offered me the chance to become licensed when I was not sure I would be able to pursue it otherwise. Because of Noyce, I will be in the classroom in a year teaching and doing one of the things I love most.
