The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF) recently named CU Boulder School of Education alumna Jamie Gay one of only 34 nationally selected Teaching Fellows for 2016. Gay is currently teaching at Longmont High School in the St. Vrain Valley School District.
KSTF Teaching Fellowships are highly competitive and awarded to the most promising teacher candidates across the nation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Fellows must demonstrate the potential to develop: the content knowledge needed for teaching, exemplary teaching practices, and the qualities of a teacher leader.
Throughout the five-year fellowship, recipients are eligible to receive approximately $50,000 in available grants including funds to support professional development, teaching materials, and summer stipends. Additionally, fellows receive support and coaching from a national network of over 300 STEM educators and are presented with leadership and mentoring opportunities within KSTF and beyond. With an emphasis on inquiry and collaboration, the Teaching Fellows Program supports participants as they advance their teaching practice and student learning, while leading from the classroom. Teachers completing the five-year fellowship become Senior Fellows that remain actively involved with KSTF.
Gay marks the 11th CU Teach graduate to receive this honor since 2009. Julie Andrew, master teacher for the CU Teach program, helped nominate Gay and had the honor of working with her in a course called Teaching and Learning Chemistry. According to Andrew, Gay conceded early in the semester that she enrolled in the course because she did not have a positive experience with chemistry as a student, but she wanted to learn more about chemistry and hopefully change her view on the discipline. Much to Andrew's delight, Gay showed "an incredible desire to learn and re-learn the subject."
"She was a true leader in the class," Andrew said. "I must confess that it filled my heart with joy at how committed she was to truly understanding why we know what we know about chemical systems... And what makes this story so salient is: Jamie is currently teaching high school chemistry!"
Gay graduated from CU Boulder with a BA in Molecular Cellular Developmental Biology in 2013 and a MA from the School of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in 2015. As an undergraduate, Gay worked as a teaching assistant for freshmen in a leadership program. There, she planned lessons for a recitation of 10 students and helped write assessments. Additionally, she lived abroad in Uppsala, Sweden, where she studied neuroscience and philosophy, and also in Bocas del Toro, Panama, where she was a research assistant studying the effects of ocean acidification and warming on the interactions between coral and bio-eroding sponges. Andrew recalls Gay's ability to seamlessly connect interests in ocean acidification and biological systems across science disciplines, which reflects Gay's philosophy on science education.
“I love science as a discipline because it is so interconnected and impacts so much of our lives," Gay said. "Teachers have a responsibility to share their understanding of the world around them and how to interact with it. This includes content knowledge, practical skills, and scholar skills."
Meet the 2016 Teaching Fellows on the KSTF website or read the news release about the Teaching Fellowship.