2009 Professional Development Grant Awardees

2009 Professional Development Grant Awardees

CALIFORNIA

Elliot Hu-Au is a physics teacher at Skyline High School in Oakland, Calif.  His school has made efforts to become more environmentally conscious by including discussions on solar panels and hybrid cars in physics class, encouraging student groups to develop a recycling program and growing local fruits and vegetables in a campus greenhouse. Hu-Au said he wants to find ways to relate scientific and natural topics to the everyday lives of his students—to help them realize that even small actions, such as littering or buying a new cell phone, impact the environment.  He also would like to get more students involved in hands-on outdoor learning experiences so that interaction with nature along with knowledge gained in the classroom will help them become environmental stewards.  Hu-Au intends to share methods learned from the grant courses with other teachers at his school, from the art, math and social studies departments, who have expressed interest in making environmental concepts a common theme among their classes.

Jose Sanchez is a social science and U.S. history teacher at Alhambra High School in Alhambra, Calif. He believes that eEnvironmental eEducation should not justt be reserved for science classes alone. Sanchez said he applied for this grant because he feels it is his personal responsibility to educate his students about the environment and to make themencourage them to be active participants in changing and improving the human relationships with the environment. He hopes to give his students the opportunity to explore topics relating to the environment (pollution, environmental policy, and educating the populace) while incorporating that information into his history courses.He hopes to incorporate environmental content into his history classes, allowing students to explore issues like pollution, environmental policy and population growth. The information gained from the courses will be especially important as Alhambra High School moves toward the creation of the very first "Green Academy," which will provide students practical education in green topics.

FLORIDA

Sondra McCulloch is a biology and science teacher at T. DeWitt Taylor Middle High school in Pierson, Fla.  McCulloch notes that her school does address the need for environmental education through their Environmental Science and Service Academy that allows students to participate in hands-on ecosystem projects with both plants and animals.  She notes that her students are eager to learn but many are children of migrant workers, so any extra time outside of school is spent working as opposed to studying.  If she can make environmental lessons in the classroom more relevant to the lives of these students, they will remember the content more than if they spent hours studying.  McCulloch plans to share knowledge gained from the courses with fellow teachers and administrators, to better integrate environmental education into her school’s strategic plan.

John Zoeller is a social studies, human geography, macroeconomics and American government and history teacher at Dr. Michael Krop High School in Miami, Fla. Through the professional development courses, Zoeller hopes to learn new methods to incorporate environmental perspectives into his courses.  He plans to emphasize concepts such as environmental economics, land use changes over time, environmental policy and public perceptions of the natural environment. Zoeller has also agreed to collaborate with several science teachers at his school to develop a ‘wildlife audit’ of the plant an animal species on their high school campus.

ILLINOIS

Melanie Mudarth is an earth and space science, chemistry, biology and ecology teacher at Zion Benton Township High School in Zion, Ill. Mudarth’s passion for learning, coupled with her desire to make the material come to life and be relevant to each of her students, motivated her to pursue the professional development grant. Though she is fairly new to teaching, Mudarth said the courses will help to enrich the her school’s other science classes by integrating environmental topics into their particular focus. Key topicsShe hopes to share her newly gained knowledge with other teachers in her school and district who are interested in integrating environmental issues into their classrooms.

MARYLAND

Courtney Rohde is a biology, earth science, animal behavior and physical science teacher at Chesapeake High School in Baltimore, Md.  She hopes to use the knowledge gained from the profession development courses to better instruct her students on current environmental issues, both locally and globally.  As her school is located directly on the Chesapeake Bay, it is especially important that her culturally diverse students learn about their relationship to the local environment and become empowered to make environmentally conscious personal decisions.  Rohde interested in helping her school become a Maryland Green School, and also plans to share new tools and resources from the courses with the rest of the science department teachers.  

MASSACHUSETTS

Tommy Hayes is an 11th and 12th grade environmental science teacher at Charlestown High School in Charlestown, Mass. Despite majoring in environmental science in his undergraduate education, Hayes said he has not been able to explore environmental education in depth, in through either graduate school or his teaching residencyas a teacher. He wants to increase his content knowledge and keep current on the latest environmental topics while also making his courses culturally relevant to his students. Hayes said he believes that young people are the hope and the solution to our present environmental challenges hopes his students will “share [his] optimism and take a ‘can-do’ approach to environmental decisions in their lives.” He also hopes that these courses will give him the data and knowledge and tools to advocate for school-wide changes in the future.

MICHIGAN

Emily Curry, a 9th and 10th grade biology teacher and co-teacher of special education classes  at Jackson High School in Jackson, Mich.,, co-teaches special education biology courses believes that a strong environmental education program would greatly benefit special education students and struggling learners. Along with seeking to instill a sense of stewardship and responsibility in her diverse group of students, Curry said she has pursued this grant to finding wayslearn new methods to get students outside while still teaching conforming to the state-mandated curriculum. Living and teaching in an urban setting has fostered her desire to expose her students to outdoor learning that they might not normally experience. As part of Jackson’s “Green Team,” Curry collaborates with individuals across the district, documenting green practices and collaborating oncontributing to new green projects. She also hopes to to encourage incorporation ofe the Michigan “Green Schools” program into many subject areas—not just science.

Courtney Struck is an environmental science and chemistry teacher at Utica High School in Shelby Township, Mich. She plans on using her professional development grant to integrate environmental science into all subject areas at Utica, to increasing encourage stewardship from her school’s faculty and students and to become a resource for other educators seeking to incorporate more environmental topics in their teaching., and integrating Environmental Science into all subject areas at Utica With the help of teachers from other schools, Struck guided her school in helped implementing “Green Committees,” which promote green behaviors both in and out of the classroom. Struck said she believes that if she can connect the classroom to the real world, she will have a greater chance of effectively reaching her students. She hopes that these courses will allow her to make environmental education more relevant to her students, so they will be able to see how their actions affect the Earth and its future.

MINNESOTA

Tom Davies is a U.S. history, human geography and world history teacher at Gordon Parks High School in Saint Paul, Minn. HThis fall, he will begin doing a feasibility study with his students this fall on wind turbine and solar panel installation. Davies said he is passionate about helping his students devise a strategy to cut the schools carbon emissions while also educating them about the careers available in the renewable energy sector. He said that there are no specific environmental studies courses at his school; rather, the teachers have all incorporated elements of environmental science into their curriculum areas. Davies believes that the grant-supported classes will help him bring new ideas and teaching strategies to his school. He hopes to gain specific knowledge that will help make environmental studies relevant and of interest to his school’s urban and multi-ethnic student population.

MISSOURI

Elizabeth Morris is a biology and geology teacher at Clearwater High School in Piedmont, Mo. Morris said she hopes that professional development courses in eEnvironmental education will help her to guide her students toward solving the environmental problems they are faced withface. Nearly 50 percent of the biology curriculum at Clearwater is already devoted to ecology topics and objectives. By adding environmental education resources to the curricula, she said her students will gain the skills needed to protect and preserve the environment. Morris stated that she would like to have students participate in the dissemination of e information and skills to both their peers and teachers, so that they maycan be seen as school leaders in their effort to promote in promoting sustainable practices.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Marcel Duhaime is a mathematics teacher at Bow High School in Bow, N.H. As a Cub Master, avid backpacker, kayaker and soon-to-be attendee of the Zealand Consensus (a conference leading up to the United Nations’ Climate Summit in Copenhagen), Duhaime is constantly outdoors and considers himself to be an environmental steward. He is interested in learning methods to finding a way to more fully integratinge environmental education and awareness into his classes—namelyfor example, helping his students gather and analyze localized data so that they may better understand the condition of the environment in their own backyards. The pProfessional development G grant courses match his personal goals – focusing on the school, the community and personal projects on environmental service and outdoor adventure. Duhaime plans to share what he learns with fellow teachers at Bow and hopes to get his entire department enthusiastic about incorporating interdisciplinary Eenvironmental eEducation into their classes..

NEW YORK

David Olesh is an earth science and geology teacher at Automotive High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. He points out that as a whole, hisHis school is seeking to move toward a more modern curriculum that includes environmental studies. Olesh said he feels is motivated to convey an understanding of earth and environmental sciences to his students because, he shares“the population I teach has barely seen an environment not covered by asphalt.” He believes that his students would benefit from the course new tools and an eagerness to implement them—because the new lesson plans and resources will help students develop that they would gainnew perspectives on their environment. He hopes that more knowledge will be created and disseminated to the community as a whole; and both that more teachers and more students will learn more and be able to reproduce reproduce Eenvironmental Eeducation for the betterment of all.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Betsy Burtzlaff is a biology, ecology, environmental science, anatomy, physiology and physics teacher at Newell High School in Newell, S.D. While the school offers an agriculture education course, she said a more thorough environmental education course outside of the science department would aid her students – who are mostly agriculturally focused – to take positive steps to control erosion, reduce fertilizer run off, improve irrigation and encourage conservation and green building practices. Burtzlaff said the professional development courses would fine-tune the contents of her current curriculum and allow her to disseminate new information to her colleagues.

TENNESSEE

Emily Wilson is a U.S. government and history, world history and economics teacher at the Bedford County Learning Academy (BCLA) in Shelbyville, Tenn. One of Wilson’s goals is to teach both her colleagues and students new ways to approach conservation and good environmental stewardship. She said her students will learn about making positive change at the local level, including improving recycling programs in the schools and the surrounding community. An Earth Day celebration at the school showed that both the students and staff had enthusiasm for environmental education. She said she sought the grant so that her students would have a “superb learning experience.”

TEXAS

Rose Robertson is a chemistry, environmental science and biology teacher at Taylor High School in Taylor, Texas. She believes is seeking to integrate eEnvironmental eEducation into the studies of her diverse student population while growing and developing as both an individual and an educator. Environmental courses, she said, can offer students a greater variety in the science department.allow es to choose from She credits her desire to pursue this grant to her respect for the environment and her enthusiasm for preserving nature. Robertson hopes that throughby becoming a more diversely educated teacher, she will subsequently be able to offer more to her students, school, and the Taylor community’s diverse population as well. .

VIRGINIA

Barbara Taber is an earth science, biology, oceanography, ecology, and environmental science teacher at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, Va. Churchland is in an urban public school district. Taber said she would like to develop methods to to specifically spark the underserved populations’ interest in protecting the environment. She seeks to help her students understand that that environmental issues matter to them and she said she believes this can be achieved by involving them  them involved in outdoor education, raising their awareness of current issues and informing them of employment possibilities in the green job market. Taber wants to show her students that even the inner-city can have green spaces and that urban residents can be environmentally responsible. She hopes that in taking these courses, she will greatly increase her own environmental literacy and therefore be able to better explain the concepts and issues found within the field of environmental science.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Devin Smith is a 9th grade physics teacher at KIPP D.C. College Preparatory School in Washington, D.C., responsible for setting up the science department at his school. He believes the course would be useful by providing new resources to help establish a departmental knowledge base that will, in turn, supplement his students’ learning believes that it would be most helpful to have as many resources as possible to help supplement the students’ learning as well a departmental knowledge base. SmithHe plans to use cross-subject learning in each of the science classes to ignite student interest in the sciences. SpDevin seeks to spark his students’ interest in environmental sciences as a way to create a future service learning project outside of school.arking interest in environmental science in the classroom can lead to future service learning projects in the community, Smith said. Working for with students in an underserved population community has increased Smith’s desire to connect with his students, so that he will have more opportunities to show them how science serves a purpose outside of the classroom.