Retaining Rural STEM Teachers by Building a Community Matt Miller & Sharon Vestal (@SharonVestal) NSF Award # 1439789
Outline ● Annual summer REMAST conference ● Facebook group ● Mentoring program ● Outcomes
REMAST Summer Conference ● Began in June 2011 (5 conferences) ● Invite REMAST alumni, current scholars, local teachers, and university faculty ● Nationally-known invited speaker ● 1 ½ days (Wednesday noon to Thursday evening)
REMAST Summer Conference
REMAST Summer Conference ● 2011--Tom Bloch ● 2012--Penny Noyce ● 2013--Darcy Harland ● 2014--Dave Burgess ● 2015--Michael Fenton ● 2016--Matt Miller (June 15-16, 2016)
REMAST Summer Conference Panel Discussion Topics: ● Surviving the First Year ● Working with Troubled Teens ● Middle School: Range of the Strange ● Working with Parents ● Handling Homework ● Classroom Management ● What I Wish They Had Told Me Before I Graduated
REMAST Summer Conference Evening at the South Dakota Children’s Museum
REMAST Summer Conference 2015 Campus Scavenger Hunt
REMAST Summer Conference 2015 Campus Scavenger Hunt
REMAST Summer Conference 2015 Campus Scavenger Hunt
REMAST Summer Conference Group Picture
REMAST Summer Conference What other activities/issues are relevant to new teachers?
REMAST Facebook Group ● Started in Fall 2009 ● Currently has 54 members; most alumni, current scholars, and faculty ● Place to share ideas, ask questions, celebrate accomplishments ● Trying to increase traffic by posting twice per month
REMAST Facebook Group ● Started in Fall 2009 ● Currently has 54 members; most alumni, current scholars, and faculty ● Place to share ideas, ask questions, celebrate accomplishments ● Trying to increase traffic by posting twice per month
REMAST Facebook Group
REMAST Facebook Group
REMAST Facebook Group Recently we have been trying to post more to our Facebook group, but we seem to get less traffic on our posts. Do you have any ideas on how to increase participation in the Facebook group?
REMAST Phase I Mentoring Program Pre-service Mentoring ● Evolved a lot since beginning of the program ● Scholars were assigned to faculty members; read Harry Wong’s The First Days of School ● Each faculty met in small groups with all mentees; read Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion ● Faculty met in small groups, then everyone met in large group; read Roxanna Elden’s See Me After Class ● Last year of Phase I--one large group read Dave Burgess’ Teach Like a Pirate
REMAST Phase I Mentoring Program Mentoring in first two years of teaching ● Not required ● Sometimes assigned by district, sometimes found by REMAST alumni ● Signed a contract ● Completed a report form periodically ● Mentor paid $500 for the year
REMAST Phase I Mentoring Program Mentoring in first two years of teaching
REMAST Phase I Mentoring Program Mentoring in first two years of teaching
REMAST Phase II Mentoring
REMAST Phase II Mentoring
REMAST Phase II Mentoring Scholars ● Using the SDSU Common Read book, The Other Wes Moore ● Meeting once a month--small group immediately followed by large group ● Discussion revolves around questions related to the book ● Attend the presentation by Wes Moore as a group Alumni & Scholars ● Joined through Facebook group ● Posts twice per month by faculty
REMAST Phase II Mentoring Do you have ideas on how you could implement mentoring in your program or suggestions for our mentoring program?
REMAST Phase I Outcomes ● Distributed $690,000 in scholarships to 46 undergraduates ● 44 scholars graduated with secondary teaching certification ● 34 (77%) are currently teaching science or math ● 22 (50%) have completed the service requirement ● 16 of the 22 (72%) are still teaching
Did the REMAST scholarship allow you to do anything you wouldn't have been able to do otherwise outside of your schooling (e.g. not have to take a part-time job, teach in an area with a higher cost of living, travel to conferences, etc.)
The REMAST Scholarship Program has been very successful at producing 6 - 12 science and math teachers and retaining them (so far). Can you give a reason(s) why you think that the program has been so successful? ● When REMAST teachers are new and struggling, they don't struggle alone. They have peers in the program that will help them figure out their problems, instead of feeling alone and frustrated. ● It gives us the ability to afford our education and it gives us a support system. It gives us resources and it gives us knowledge. I think the REMAST program has been great. Most of the support I have received during my brief tenure as a teacher has been from staff or students that I met through REMAST. They are there when the rest of the education program may not be and I really appreciate that. ● I keep coming back to the networking. We have a little REMAST family. There is built in support and camaraderie amongst our SDSU alumni, that we otherwise may have lost track of. That has been the greatest benefit and reason it is successful in my mind. ● Strong camaraderie between students and faculty; Beneficial opportunities (conferences, speakers, etc.); Amazing funding to help students
Studying Phase I ● Teacher Resilience Survey sent out to all Teacher Education alumni that graduated between Fall 2008 and Summer 2014; ● Sent through email to 293 people, but 90 of these we used their SDSU email so unsure as to whether or not they received it; ● Completed responses from 97 people; ● 49 respondents are non-STEM alumni; ● 27 respondents are REMAST alumni; ● 21 respondents are STEM non-REMAST alumni;
Studying Phase I ● There was a multi-response question that had 23 items ● For each part, the alumni was asked to indicate his/her level of agreement. ● Levels were: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Disagree Nor Agree, Agree, Strongly Agree, and NA ● Each level was given a number in the following manner: 1: Strongly Disagree; 2: Disagree; 3: Neither Disagree Nor Agree; 4: Agree; and 5: Strongly Agree ● Respondents were asked to respond to each of these 23 items with respect to the Teacher Ed Program, their Major Dept, and REMAST (if applicable.
Studying Phase I ● Only the REMAST alumni rated all three support entities (Teacher Ed, Major Dept, and REMAST) on all 23 items. ● The following slides are ones that relate to the community and support aspect of the REMAST program. In many of these REMAST was rated as highest among the three entities.
Studying Phase I Item h: Created collaborative and democratic learning environments
Studying Phase I Item k: Fostered relationships based on mutual trust, respect, care, and integrity
Studying Phase I Item l: Encouraged involvement in professional and community networks
Studying Phase I Item p: Shared responsibility for maintaining positive relationships.
Studying Phase I Item w: Offered assistance with your teaching and learning beyond your time at SDSU.
Studying Phase I What are other questions should we attempt to answer? Where have other Noyce projects published their findings?
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