- Year 2022
- NSF Noyce Award # 2050073
- First Name Earl
- Last Name Legleiter
- Institution Fort Hays State University
- Role/Position Noyce Teacher Mentor
- Workshop Category Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends
- Workshop Disciplines Audience Biological Sciences
- Target Audience Co-PIs, Evaluators/Education Researchers, Higher Education Institution Administrators, Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Other Faculty/Staff, Project PIs, School District Administrators, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Communication and Advocacy: Teaching Educators to Effectively Tell Their Stories
- Session Length 45 minutes minutes
- Additional Presenter(s)
Janet Stramel, William Weber, & Paul Adams
Goals
•Develop an understanding of the ways that a teacher preparation program is addressing preparation of STEM Teachers for rural assignments•Generate ideas for preparing pre-service teachers and supporting early career teachers for rural placements•Construct a “why” statement for a thriving and teaching in a rural community
Evidence
Over the years that FHSU has granted Noyce scholarships to STEM students thirty-nine teachers have been placed in mostly rural districts. Of these thirty-seven are still teaching for a 95% retention rate.
Proposal
Fort Hays State University offers a Noyce scholarship program to help science and mathematics teacher candidates transition from student to teacher in a rural setting. In this session, we will describe the program and focus on the needs of teaching science and mathematics in a rural setting as we help candidates develop an understanding of the unique challenges and benefits of living and teaching in a rural community. Participants will have opportunities to discuss questions and engage in interactive problem solving to consider solutions for the rural teacher workforce as they consider their “why?” teaching in rural places is an amazing opportunity.