White House Discussion With NMSI On Stem Teachers

Great roundtable discussion at the White House Eisenhower Executive office building with the Office of Science and Technology, National Math and Science Initiative and UTeach concerning the $22.5 million grant to create 10 new UTeach teacher preparation sites.  The White House blog has a great recap of the story and what happened at the event at New Steps to Meet the President's Goal of Preparing 100,000 STEM Teachers. 
 
Here are some of the great quotes from the day, including a brief meeting with President Obama who reiterated his commitment that every child have a great math and science teacher. He and his team stressed that we all need to "lift our game in STEM" and that we needed "all hands on deck to ensure that our math and science teachers have deep subject matter knowledge to inspire the next generation of STEM professionals."
 
From Robert Gonzales - UTeach teacher and NMSI Teacher Trainer:  "We need to recognize the changing needs of our students and UTeach drives you to meet those needs to ensure students truly understand the content.  Students respond to the experiences that teachers give them and we must provide high quality, rigorous curriculum to maximize learning."
 
From Trevon Jones - UTeach student: "Students don't have a filter and inherently know if teachers don't fully understand their content. They will turn off if they know that their teachers are faking it.  They absolutely need teachers with deep content knowledge who can provide inquiry based lessons to fully engage in STEM.  My students see me get excited about differential equations - they see it - they don't understand why I get so excited but they can't help but get involved in the lesson through that passion."
 
Dr. Michael Marder - UTeach co-founder and director: " The HHMI grant will enhance the ability to bring research experiences to more students early in their program.  The UTeach program is dependent on research and evidence to ensure the program stays on the leading edge of instruction and technology so that are teachers are fully prepared for the classroom."
 
Sara Martinez Tucker - NMSI CEO - "For too many kids their heritage is their destiny - getting the right teacher in front of the right kids means that they can choose their destiny."
 
This grant truly means that thousands of students will choose their own destiny.

Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI, listens to a participant on Monday, March 18, 2013, during a roundtable
discussion at the White House on the shortage of teachers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.  
Photo by Shealah Craighead

Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI, (left), Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and
Technology, and Dr. Sean Carroll, Vice President for Science Education at HHMI, share in a laugh on Monday,
March 18, 2013, during a roundtable discussion at the White House on the shortage of teachers in science,
technology, engineering, and math fields. 
Photo by Shealah Craighead

A roundtable discussion on Monday, March 18, 2013, at the White House on the shortage of teachers in science,
technology, engineering, and math fields.  Discussion participants included Dr. Sean Carroll, Vice President for
Science Education at HHMI; Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI; Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White House
Office of Science and Technology.
Photo by Shealah Craighead

Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI, left, participates in a discussion with Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White
House Office of Science and Technology, center, and Dr. Sean Carroll, Vice President for Science Education at
HHMI, right, on Monday, March 18, 2013, during a roundtable discussion at the White House on the shortage of
teachers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. 
Photo by Shealah Craighead 

A participant delivers remarks during a roundtable discussion on Monday, March 18, 2013, at the White House on the shortage of teachers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Discussion participants included Dr. Sean Carroll, Vice President for Science Education at HHMI; Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI; Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology. 
Photo by Shealah Craighead

A participant delivers remarks during a roundtable discussion on Monday, March 18, 2013, at the White House
on the shortage of teachers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.  Discussion participants
included Dr. Sean Carroll, Vice President for Science Education at HHMI; Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of NMSI;
Dr. John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology. 
Photo by Shealah Craighead