1. 1. I believe that the best way to have control over one’s circumstances is through education,
so I have high expectations for myself and my students when it comes to being a lifelong
learner. I began college as a pre-med student. Though the academics of the program
stimulated me, I realized that the sharing of knowledge more closely matched my
paradigm than the inherent competition necessary to be accepted into a medical school,
so I changed universities and majors. As an elementary educator, I recognize that I must
share knowledge of all content areas, so in a conscious effort to round-out my skill set, I
completed my Master’s of Education in Language and Literacy in 2006. This taught me
the power of incorporating accurate and interesting content through literature and
interdisciplinary units. I attended a day long Project Learning Tree Workshop in the fall
of 2007, and was reminded of the importance of environmental education, especially for
children who will bear the gifts and burdens of our changing planet. I completed AIG
licensure in 2008, which strengthened my skills at providing rigorous lessons, especially
in STEM areas, in which American students need to be knowledgeable and innovative to
remain internationally competitive. I have come full circle, and am again passionate
about my first loves, science and math. I led a thirty-hour Math Investigations workshop
last summer because I have seen the effectiveness of this program’s hands-on instruction
with my own students. I am also part of a two-year program called Math Partners, in
which I attend and train teachers in my district mathematical concepts and research-based
teaching strategies. By the year’s end, I will have attended eighty hours of training and
led forty-two hours of staff development for that program.
2. I am a member of the International Reading Association, which helps me stay current on
instructional strategies and current research about how students learn. I am an active
member of the Salem College Literacy Support Group, in which teachers from various
schools and grade levels share current literature for instructing students and discuss ways
to include content-area texts into the curriculum. I am a member of the North Carolina
Association for the Gifted and Talented, and attend conferences that focus on the
acceleration and enrichment of the standard course of study. I also attend a number of
technology and other staff development workshops regularly. I serve as a member of the
school Beautification Committee (with parents) and the Green Team (with teachers),
which encourage environmental awareness and education.
3. My ultimate goal of participating in the NC Science Leadership Fellows Program in to
strengthen connections. I would like to personally be more knowledgeable of current
issues in science so that I can share them with my students. I would like for my third-
graders to be engaged and informed so that they can thoughtfully form opinions about
controversial issues and share them with their peers and families. I would like to form
working relationships with scientists in the field, for if the goal of education is to create
active citizens, they must have role-models to look up to. I would like to share teaching
strategies and content with other staff members, especially as the NCSCOS is about to be
changed.
4. As a science leader, I helped my school earn almost $6,000 in grants for outdoor learning.
We now have compost bins, an outdoor classroom, and several garden areas that reflect
the plant life from each region of our state. I have helped write grants, physically create
the spaces, and manage them. I have been very proud to bring families, students, and
teachers together on this project.

2. 5. I make every effort to share recent innovations in science with my students. We read
several periodicals regularly to be aware of the positive and negative changes in our
environment and understanding of the world around us. Each week, students prepare a
snack to share with the class. We discuss which plant parts the food came from and
which region the food comes from, so students are increasingly aware of the connections
between land and the things grown there. I am more conscious of selecting accurate and