Inspiring Learning Award 2021-22 Recipient
Duane Merrell, MS
"As I attempted to find my passion, Duane worked with me and guided me. He was accessible outside of class to talk even in semesters when I wasn’t his student. He answers any phone call he gets from random numbers just in case it’s connected to us and we need him."
My work is helping prepare secondary physical science teachers, Chemistry, Earth Space Science, Physics and Teaching Physical Science students to be secondary science teachers. My mentoring environment begins early in the students junior year and last for two years through the students teaching/internship experience and graduation.
I try from the first class to get them engaged in teaching, the teaching, and I follow this through with them until the end. We teach, teach some more, we evaluate each other in peer instruction and feedback and then I go with them to watch the final exam, student teaching/internship.
Kindness, Care, Soft Heart, feedback and time, a lot of time.
How rewarding it is to be with a student as they develop and become an amazing young teacher. But also how devastating it is when you struggle to move the needle with a student who maybe struggling.