- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 1852889
- First Name Natalie
- Last Name King
- Institution Georgia State University
- Role/Position Principal Investigator (PI)
- Proposal Type Workshop
- Workshop Category Track 2: Teaching Fellowships
- Workshop Disciplines Audience STEM Education (general)
- Target Audience Co-PIs, Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows, Other Faculty/Staff, Project PIs, Undergraduate and/or Graduate Noyce Scholars
- Topics Partnerships for Success (High-need schools/informal institutions/industry/community)
- Additional Presenter(s)
Andrea Dziengue, Georgia State University; Carol Maple; Fulton County Schools; Sumter Alton, Rockdale County Public Schools
Goals
Participants will learn strategies on how to (1) recenter humanity in and out-of-school contexts, (2) prioritize physical and mental health to give 100% in the classroom, (3) establish boundaries and being intentional about rest and family time.
Evidence
Understanding the importance of retention and career satisfaction is critical, especially during a time when there is a mass exodus of teachers leaving the profession. Therefore, we conducted an embedded single case study (Yin, 2003) within a larger study examining the recruitment and preparation of STEM teachers. The overall data were collected within clusters to crystallize themes around our efforts to promote sustainable self-care for early career STEM teachers (Ellingson, 2009). Data sources included artifacts from the Signature Experiences, teacher-created workshop materials, and follow-up semi-structured interviews to understand the extent to which Teaching Fellows accomplished their self-care goals. Constructivist grounded theory was the analytical approach employed in this study (Charmaz, 2017).
Proposal
A study focused on teacher well-being indicated the omnipresent culture of performativity and its consequences on how teachers interact with their students and colleagues (Murphy et al., 2020). In addition, novice teacher attrition rates can be attributed to factors such as adverse job conditions and an exceeding workload, especially for those who have difficulty with classroom management or feel demoralized in the teaching profession (Amitai & Van Houtte, 2022). Furthermore, states are increasingly controlling educational decisions and eroding teachers’ professional autonomy in the classroom. Bettina Love (2023) discussed that while many efforts are focused on creating policies, structures, and initiatives that recruit Black teachers, not enough is being done to retain them. She highlighted the need for an infrastructure to keep, protect, value, and affirm our educators – particularly Black teachers who are underrepresented in the profession. In our NSF Noyce Track 2 Project – Developing STEM Professionals as Educators and Teacher Leaders (DSPETL), we have the unique opportunity to support 27 early career science and mathematics teachers. The goals of DSPETL are to (a) recruit and prepare STEM professionals who are willing to remain as highly effective teachers in high-need secondary schools and (b) engage in robust professional learning experiences for teacher leadership.
