Haley Coder - Cohort 3

AYA Mathematics Major

What were some things that played into your decision to be a teacher? My mom is a teacher so I've been exposed to the education field all my life. I had a very positive education experience and always looked forward to school. My passion grew as I saw how teachers could make a difference. When I was younger I thought it would be neat to dress up and be an important person, which seemed to fit the role of a teacher!

Have you always wanted to be a teacher? No, in fact I was originally a Political Science major. Before college, I had job shadowed lawyers and was deeply impacted by those experiences. However, I eventually realized my interest was in education policy. I had heard too often about important decisions regarding the teaching world being made by non-teachers. If I end up working for the Department of Education at some point down the road, I want to have a background in the classroom and understand where teachers are coming from if I am helping set state standards. I like to debate things I am passionate about and also have a growing interest in curriculum. For now, I am excited to teach mathematics.

Congratulations on being the president of BGCTM. Thanks. Cohort 1 member Amber Pietro was the past president and she was my ACTION "big" when I was an incoming freshman so she was a big part of my involvement. As president, my main role is overseeing the major details, and since we are the largest campus affiliate I work to make our presence known, cast vision, and provide support to the other officers as they take care of the day-to-day operations.

Tell us about your upcoming trip to Thailand. Several other ACTION students and I have an amazing opportunity to travel to Thailand with Dr. Matney in December. Math camps will be conducted at Kamphaeng Phet Rajabhat University (KPRU), and we will not only assist with the camps but also bring back ideas so that BGCTM can host a similar camp here. It will be kind of like a condensed study abroad program with some time to tour as well. 

You are graduating in December 2014 after just three and a half years at BGSU. Yes, I realized freshman year that if I took 18 credit hours each semester and one summer class I could get done a semester early since I had some PSEOP and AP credit. I didn't want to take classes I didn't need. Plus, I will be excited to have an extra semester to sub and get my foot in the door at different school districts. I don't regret my decision, but the time is definitely going very fast and this year it's hitting home that I will graduate in a little over a year.

With a little over a year left of college, what advice do you have to those just starting out? I have several suggestions including build as many relationships as you can with fellow classmates and instructors. Many of my opportunities have come as the result of people I have known along the way. Also, get as much classroom experience as possible including speaking in front of people. This will not only confirm your decision to teach but also prepare you to have your own classroom. And, finally, buy a planner and use it. Especially in Methods, keeping track of all the assignments is a necessity!

 Sarah Miller - Cohort 5

Middle Childhood Education - Science & Mathematics

What were some of the things you were involved with before coming to college? Volunteering at a science museum (COSI in Columbus) for two years was a great experience as I hosted hallway science demonstrations. I was in 4-H and was the president for two years. As a 4-H camp counselor for a number of years, I tried to figure out which age group I liked the most since I was planning to teach. Running has been a big part of my life, and I participated in cross country and track all 4 years of high school. In fact, I am also planning to run cross country as well as indoor and outdoor track as a club sport at BGSU.

Tell us about your decision to be a teacher. I've always wanted to be a teacher, and each year it seemed my favorite grade to teach was the one I was in at the time! Volunteering with the science experiments at COSI confirmed my desire to work with kids as well as the Teacher's Prep program in high school. Originally, I was considering Elementary Education as a major, but I enjoyed my seventh grade experience more than the third grade students who were more clingy and less independent. Currently, I can see myself teaching math in a fourth or fifth grade classroom, most likely in a suburban setting since that is what I am familiar with.

And then you heard about ACTION... Yes, as I was considering my options during the Honors Scholar Day, I talked to someone in the College of Education and Human Development and decided to pursue Middle Childhood. They immediately directed me to the ACTION table, and soon my dad and I were very excited about the program! We were amazed at the opportunities ACTION provides, especially the classroom research.

What was your favorite part of the Summer Bridge? I have two favorites. One was our trip to Camp Palmer where we really started to get to know each other. It was exciting how we worked together to get over the wall - I was amazed we could figure it out. Second was the Showcase Event because I really enjoyed seeing what each person chose as their favorite session. Then, it was interesting to see the variety of ways some of the same sessions were highlighted.

Tell us about your freshman research project for ACTION. I am working with Dr. Underwood on two projects. One is finding correlations between adult and baby gecko genetics, and the other is finding how often you should change the water for axolotls. We are taking pictures of the adult and baby geckos for the genetics project, and we are testing water quality for the axolotls. I like that we have two projects because it gives me more exposure to the research process. Also, we are planning on making a book of our work, and hopefully we will be able to share it with a school when we are done!

What is one of the neatest places you've ever visited? My family traveled to Alaska when I was in 4th grade. It was an amazing experience, and I still remember camping on a glacier island all by ourselves. In fact, one morning we woke up to find bear prints near our tent! My mom wasn't too thrilled, but the rest of us thought it was great!

After graduating in December 2012 with an AYA Mathematics degree, Sarah received a long-term substitute position at Northridge High School (northeast of Columbus) teaching Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus. With her foot in the door, that position enabled her to gain permanent employment in the same school for this year. She is currently teaching Algebra 1 and Algebraic Connections (which is an Algebra 2 class at a slower pace). Her classes consist of freshmen and seniors, with a handful of sophomores and juniors mixed in. She considers herself lucky to start off the year already knowing some students and the staff.

As Sarah reflected on her teaching experience so far she said her favorite part (and sometimes the hardest) is working with her students: "It's the best feeling in the world when a student tells you they appreciate something you did for them. Working with the seniors, they are able to express appreciation. During student teaching, my 8th graders didn't do that."

Sarah in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

She also pointed out the impact of her capstone research project for ACTION on her teaching: "It made me think about what problems I am seeing in my classroom and how can I go about fixing them. In fact, right now our school district is very data-driven so it's extremely helpful to have the background to know how to gather information and draw conclusions from it."

Before school started, Sarah had an amazing chance to spend 10 days in Italy with her boyfriend and his family. They visited Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome.

Front row: Allie Mazza, Jess Shearer, Alyssa Lustgarten, Kimberly Lentz. Back row: Peter Edwards, Betsie Naylor, Nikki Szymanski, Alex Clune.

Elected by their peers, each cohort has two representatives who serve on the Student Advisory Board (SAB) each year. With our desire to continually improve the program, student input is crucial in this process. Interacting with the student board members enables the staff to gain valuable input, and many suggestions have led to changes. In fact, this newsletter was born out of an SAB meeting several years ago.

During our first board meeting of the year, members offered suggestions to our website, brochure, and recruitment, in general, as we reach out to prospective students. Since SAB members also serve by planning student events, subcommittees were formed in preparation for our annual holiday event that will take place on December 13.  Other items discussed related to the ACTION lounge, our involvement with STEM in the Park, and more. We appreciate these students' willingness to serve on the board, and much of their input from this initial meeting has already been discussed and acted upon by the staff.

Of course, anyone receiving this letter (students, parents, faculty, administrators) is invited to offer input and suggestions to the ACTION staff at any time. Feedback is welcome at any time.

Corrinne and Brittney enjoy the updated lounge space

After using second-hand furniture for four years, it was definitely time to improve the ACTION lounge. With over 100 current participants, the lounge gets a lot of daily use. For numerous commuters and off-campus ACTION students this serves as home base while many living on campus frequently stop here between classes to hang out and/or study. The space is also utilized by freshman research groups, study groups, science and math tutoring in the evenings, the capstone research sessions, and other meetings related to ACTION.  Students are raving about the updates and feedback continues as we strive to make additional improvements to best meet the needs of our scholars. 

Practicum Presentations: October 1 ... 4:30-5:50pm

ACTION Fall Seminar:  October 15 ... 4:30-5:50pm