NYS Master Teacher Program Newsletter

Issue 61 March 2022

This section features recent Master Teacher accomplishments. We send special KUDOS!

We encourage everyone to reach out to Master Teacher colleagues to access these opportunities and resources.

MH MT Aaron Burke Receives Hudson Valley Community Foundation Grant

Congratulations, Mid-Hudson MT Aaron Burke on receiving a Hudson Valley Community Foundation Excellence in Education Grant that he has used to initiate a hydroponics program at the K - 5 South Avenue School in the Beacon City School District.

Aaron’s plans to engage his students in hydroponics have been simmering for a few years, rooted in his NYSMTP professional development experiences.

During NYSMTP’s Summer Connections 2020 series of presentations by Master Teachers and guests, Aaron attended the Hydroponics: From STEM to Sustainability session led by NYC/MfA MT JoEllen Schuleman and her colleague Amber Carlin-Mishkin. Aaron shared that prior to that session, “ I had always had a vague interest in hydroponics, but this presentation honed my focus. I have been trying to make the library a place that inspires wonder and curiosity like the wet lab I got to visit in South Hampton in the summer of 2019. The 4 days we spent at the Stony Brook campus were super inspiring and I really loved the wet lab. So I have added the Trout in the Classroom to our library and the hydroponics/aquaponics are an extension of that.”

During NYSMTP’s Summer Connections 2020 series of Aaron, an elementary technology and media educator, plans to use his new hydroponics lab and aquaponics kit in ways that are guided by the NYS Science Learning Standards, including the 2nd grade standard 2-LS4-1, Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. “The lab we got has three different levels and each level has its own water, so you can manipulate factors like water level or nutrients and compare the results. I am hoping we can equate this to the different habitats they discuss and see how some plants are better suited for one environment over another. We will also get a little aquaponics set up that we can put on a fish tank. This would help us learn about the interconnected relationships in ecosystems that are talked about in 3rd grade and between the two systems there will be connections to be made in all the grades.”

Whether integrating technology and play dough to create musical instruments, exploring the way water moves across a stream table, or building with wood blocks in a maker space, Aaron's students are always deeply immersed in collaborative STEM experiences.

CR MT Emeritus Stacey Sebert Chosen as Onboard Educator for Rutgers' Research Expedition

Congratulations, Stacey Sebert, Capital Region MT Emeritus, who has been selected by Rutgers University for a 14-day research expedition for secondary science educators, "PUFINS at Sea" which seeks to reconstruct temperature changes over the last 10,000 years.

Stacey will join Rutgers University scientists aboard their research vessel (R/V) Altantis where she will have the opportunity to learn about and experience scientific coring practices used to study fluxes in sediments that are used by researchers to better understand historic and predictive climate and oceanographic data. She'll board the Atlantis at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts and conduct coring in the offshore waters of New Jersey and Nova Scotia.

PUFINS stands for Paleo Unsaturated-alkenone Fluxes In Northwest-Sediments. During the expedition, scientists hope to recover cores from the Holocene period (the last ~12,000 years) to reconstruct sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean by examining the changes in alkenones recorded in the fossils found in the sediments.

Learn more by visiting the PUFINS at Sea Site where you will also be able to follow Stacey's journey, tentatively scheduled for early June!

Stacey is excited to work onboard, collaborating with the team of scientists, and engaging the public in the science conducted through this project. In addition to participating in the research, Stacey will work with scientists and and other secondary science educators to plan ways of incorporating marine science in her Sand Creek Middle School curriculum, South Colonie Central School District.

Read more about the research vessel (R/V) Atlantis, one of the most sophisticated research vessels afloat, is owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the WHOI for the oceanographic community.

FL MT Emeritus Siobhan Julian Receives POGIL Award!

Congratulations to Finger Lakes MT Emeritus, Siobhan Julian on receiving the 2022 POGIL Early Achievement (PEACH) Award!

Each year, one post-secondary and one secondary educator are named as winners of this award that honors Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) practitioners who have distinguished themselves by advancing the POGIL goals, demonstrate an exceptional level of enthusiasm for active learning, and who are new to The POGIL Project. Awardees are also meet other criteria such as service and leadership.

Siobhan, who received her masters in chemistry from FL regional host campus SUNY Geneseo, teaches AP Chemistry and Regents Chemistry at Webster Schroeder High School. The POGIL press release notes that she, "discovered POGIL during her sixth year of teaching and immediately immersed herself in the pedagogy, and was self-taught until she attended the National Conference to Advance POGIL Practice (NCAPP) in 2017. Following that experience, she sought new ways to be involved in The POGIL Project and has become an integral part of many of its working groups."

Siobhan is grateful for the recognition and shared, "This award means a great deal to me. I believe in the power of POGIL. I have seen it transform my own classroom and help my students become better communicators. Working with The POGIL Project is a tremendous gift, and I'm honored every time I get the chance to collaborate with its wonderful people."

Siobhan, and her higher-ed co-awardee, Andy Aspaas of Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Minnesota, will receive their awards and be honored at June 2022 POGIL National Meeting at Washington University in St. Louis.

Learn more about POGIL: Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning:

Long Island MT Stephanie O'Brien, who received the 2020 PEACH award said, “Winning this award is the culmination of the efforts of a variety of POGIL practitioners who have taken the time to develop my instructional skills as a POGIL facilitator. It's an honor to be recognized among such a highly esteemed group of educators.”

NC MT Sean Ellison Selected as a 2022 NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador!

We congratulate new North Country MT Sean Ellison on being one of 24 secondary and community college teachers from across the country who have been selected as 2022 NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAAs)! AAA teachers receive training in astrophysics and planetary science, including a week-long STEM immersion experience at a NASA astronomy research facility such as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) based in Palmdale, California or the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. After their training, the AAAs teach a physical science curriculum module that connects curriculum concepts to NASA-enabled research.

Sean writes, " I am always on the lookout for professional development opportunities that take me beyond New York as I want to show my students how big the world is outside of our little community. I’m also excited to see some actual astronomy research up close."

“This powerful STEM program will allow the SETI Institute to continue bringing NASA science into classrooms across the country,” said Dr. Dana Backman, AAA program lead. “These teachers will use their professional development and STEM immersion experiences to convey real-world content to their students that illuminate the value of scientific research and the wide variety of STEM career paths available to them.”

Sean teaches Earth Science in the rural Norwood-Norfolk Central School District and serves as the STANYS North Central Section, Earth Science SAR.

Share your news with us! Your experience could be a resource for another classroom. Email us at: masterteacherprogram@suny.edu