Noyce Scholar Profile
Stephen Sacchetti
Undergraduate major or graduate field of study: Mathematics
Subject area(s) and grade level teaching focus: High School Mathematics
Category of scholarship/fellowship:
Noyce Scholar
Name of Noyce institution:
Haverford College
Current academic or teaching status:
Senior
School and school district:
n/a
Background:
I went through the public school system in Hamden, CT and was always a math person. In my junior year, I started tutoring my peers in math. I currently attend Haverford College and am majoring in mathematics. Throughout the past several summers I have been focusing on increasing my mathematical knowledge and pedagogical practices through summer research programs at Haverford as well as summer teaching programs like SIG and the summer session at Phillips Andover Academy. I have been a peer tutor at Haverford for the past three years and also been a TA for two classes.
Why do you want to teach:
From the moment I started tutoring, I realized how much I enjoyed teaching. Since then, I have continued to realize how much I enjoy teaching through various teaching opportunities both during the school year and over the summer. It is something about which I have become passionate and something that I can never see myself losing a passion for.
Describe a memorable teaching experience:
This past summer, I gave a lecture describing what it means to be a function. I was incredibly nervous as it was my first full lecture with a lead teacher sitting in the back of the classroom. I felt as though I was rushing through it and looking at my notes way too often, but just as I was finishing, a student raised his hand and asked a question. It was something for which I could not plan and as a result helped me to slow things down and become much more comfortable as well. The remainder of the lesson went smoothly and I felt confident in continuing to teach for the rest of the summer. This lesson is a constant reminder that teaching is a dynamic process, even with a carefully planned out lesson, and a teacher must always figure out how to become comfortable with discomfort. Although I still do get nervous at times while teaching, I now have a better sense of how to handle that so as to both help my students and myself become comfortable in the classroom.
What does the Noyce program mean to you:
The Noyce program will enable me to get certified to teach public school. Without this program, I would not have the money to get certified and might even abandon that goal. Teaching is something that I love and the Noyce program has given me the opportunity to take something that I love and turn it into a career.
