- Year 2019
- NSF Award #1340006
- Registration Current Noyce Scholar
- First Name Elaine
- Last Name Howes
- Discipline Geosciences
- Institution American Museum of Natural History
- School Name and District Currently Teaching New York City Department of Education
Abstract
Our urban teacher residency Master of Arts in Teaching program (MAT) prepares Earth science teachers for high-need schools. Graduates commit to teaching for at least four years in our state’s high-need schools (defined as serving a population of at least 50% economically disadvantaged students). After graduation from the MAT, new teachers are supported through two years of program-based induction. Following induction, graduates join a growing community of AMNH MAT alumni who regularly share experiences and teaching strategies for Earth science, sustaining the professional relationships they developed with their own cohort and with others in the program. The AMNH Noyce Scholars have been participating in this unique community of teacher learners for almost four years: throughout their preservice program and finishing their third year of science teaching. Their commitment to teaching in high-need schools, plus their desire to stay in this progressive and diverse urban center, leads many Scholars to choose teaching positions in New York City. Thus their participation in this growing community of teacher learners draws upon their varied experiences of teaching science, illustrating the great diversity of schools and of students with whom they work. This poster will draw upon that diversity to showcase these Noyce Scholars’ Earth science instruction with recent immigrants to New York City, English language learners, and students from ethnic and social groups historically underrepresented in science. The MAT program is developing its focus on culturally responsive education and the approaches that graduates deem most effective. These and other aspects of the program provide a framework for illuminating the ways that Noyce Scholars increase the effectiveness of this important aspect of the MAT preservice program. The organizing theme for this poster featuring graduates’ work is Creating and maintaining a student-centered and culturally responsive Earth Science learning community. In this poster session, teachers will illustrate this theme in their current teaching with examples from teaching practice in their own classrooms. Scholars’ teaching practices will include photos, teaching artifacts, and early findings from a beginning inquiry into culturally responsive education in Earth science from their classrooms.
