I have spent the past 10 years at Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Arizona teaching Physics, AP Physics 1, and AP Physics 2. I started off with very limited supplies and no curriculum. This allowed me to create a curriculum from scratch for the physics program that relies heavily on modeling instruction-with lots of hands-on activities and an inquiry based approach. Which has taken the program from 2 sections of on-level physics when I started, to 9 sections this year. The AP Physics has grown as well in that time, from 2 sections up to 4, with 50% of the students from underrepresented groups. Most of my students have gone on to study science or engineering related fields in college.

I firmly believe that science is not a spectator sport, and that no one learns physics alone. In my classroom you will most likely find my students at lab stations using whiteboards to convey ideas and facilitate discussions of physics topics. No two class periods are identical, because no two classes have the same questions and needs. I have to be able to explain the same idea/concept in multiple ways, through multiple modalities, to be able to reach as many students as I can. Over the course of my 10 years at Gilbert HS, I have been awarded over $40,000 in grants for lab equipment and supplies. This has allowed my students to have more hands-on experiences in science. And has made learning more real and approachable for many.

I have been fortunate to have been able to attend many conferences and workshops to hone my skills and deepen my understanding of how to teach physics. I have been able to share my experiences with inquiry based learning by presenting at workshops and conferences. Those experiences led me to serve on the American Modeling Teachers Association presidential board, where we are actively looking for ways to support both the instructor and the learner in science education. It has been a wonderful experience to have been able to support and mentor two student teachers in physics, and even more wonderful to have two former students who have become science teachers themselves.

My goal is for every student to feel like they belong in my classroom, whether or not physics is their “best” subject. I have seen first hand that students who feel a sense of belonging in my class are better adept at trying harder things, one of the reasons that the number of AP sections have grown in the past 10 years. Having long been a supporter of women and underrepresented students in STEM classes, I have been a STEP UP advocate for several years. These experiences have been published in a journal with support from the International Teachers Education Network.