Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2010)
8 October Features Davies spends year working for Department of Energy A lison F ieldhouse ___________ W alking through Capitol Hill on a daily basis and c h a ttin g w ith e d u ca to rs from around the country w as the reality for Jonathan D avies, science teacher, last school year. Davies lived in the W ashington D.C. area to w ork for the D epartm ent of Energy through the Albert Einstein Distinguished Edu cator Fellow ship Program . "I first heard about the fello w sh ip in the Fall of 2008. It's a com petitive fel low ship; over 400 educators ap p lied ," Davies said. A fter m aking it to the finalist round, he w as flown to D.C. for a w eekend to participate in a w ine and dine event along w ith four rounds of interview s. Out of the 400 applicants, only 24, including D avies, m ade the cut. He w orked alongside six other fellow s in the DOE. O th ers w ork ed for N A SA , th e N a tio n a l O ce a n ic and A tm ospheric A dm inistration (NOAA) and the N ational Sci ence Foundation (NSF). "T h e interview ing process is im portant because it's one thing to look good on paper and another if you happen to be a com plete dud in person," Davies said. "Every single ap plicant had to have am azing credentials to m ake it to the finalist round." A lth ou g h the fellow ship w as about bringing science and m ath educators together, it w as also about using their experience as educators to fine- tune and plan exhibits, dem onstrations and other form s of providing information, to cater to the needs of students and others. As educators, they have Photo by Patrick Douglas Jo n a th a n D a v ie s , s c ie n c e teacher, grades papers during his prep period. He spent last school year in Washington D.C. working for the D epartm ent of Energy through the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship. experience w orking w ith stu dents and know w hat w orks and w hat doesn't in keeping people's attention. "A lthough I am a teacher, the fellow ship w asn 't about m e being there to teach. In stead, it w as about tw eaking projects using m y experience as a teacher to m ake the proj ects better," Davies said. W hile the educators helped their respective departm ents in creating the m eans for trans ferring inform ation through an e n g a g in g m a n n e r, th e experience w as also for the educators to realize all of the resources that are available to them in public and through the governm ent. " T h e fe llo w s h ip w as a chance for us teachers to learn about the resources available to us at the federal level. We saw how w e could bring these resources back w ith us to use in our classroom s and our future lessons," Davies said. Prior to this fellow ship, Davies had w orked in oth ers, including the M.J. M ur dock: Partners in Science at Portland State U niversity on a research fellow ship, and through the Industry In itia tiv e fo r S cie n ce & M ath Educators. The AE- D EFP however, was a once in a lifetim e experience for him , d ifferen t from past research fellow ship experi ences. " A ll o f th e p e o p le I w o rk e d a lo n g s id e w ith w ere brilliant. I was inter actin g w ith som e of the brightest m inds in the coun try. It was an experience that I am grateful to have had ," Davies said. New teachers bring varied experiences , innovative E mily R eed __________________ College: University of Portland '91 High school: Madison Central, in Oldbridge, NJ Teaching history: "This is my second year teaching, I was at Wilsonville last year." Something no one would know: "I've performed on stage in New York in two productions, Filler Theater John Fitzgerald, English Favorite high school class: "Probably an acting class. I spent a lot of time acting in my last few years of high school." Hobbies: "I like to read a lot, and really enjoy outdoorsy stuff— hiking and Photos by Rachael Woolley an(^ Members ° f the canoeing— John Fitzgerald, English Congregation." and being with my kids, my son Sean (15) Biggest challenge: A class is full of individuals. The and daughter Dierdre (11)." challenge is reaching every one of them." Biggest reward: "I meet a lot of great people." Tiffany Pfenning, Spanish Favorite high school Teaching history: "I have taught at Wilsonville for five years." Something unexpected: "I was a cheerleader at U of O for four years." Biggest class: "I loved challenge: my dance "The biggest and Spanish challenge classes." is time Hobbies: management." "My main Biggest hobby is reward: dance." "The biggest College: reward University of is seeing Oregon '02 students after Tiffany Pfenning, Spanish High they graduate School: "I went and seeing them to West Linn my freshman succeed." year and then transferred to M ike Francis, School Wilsonville." Resource Officer Favorite high school class: "I loved Ward Lewis' English class." Hobbies: "I really like photography, fly fishing and travel.” College: "I've been to every college in Oregon except University of Oregon, Oregon State, and Eastern Oregon. Mike Francis, Studei Right now, I'm working on a Social Science degree at Portland State." High school: West Linn High Timeline, tips to help you avoid the college crune! A lison F ieldhouse & J ennifer S itton • Change e-mail to something not embarrassing • Take PS AT in October • Become involved in extracurricular • activities • Take PS y Scholars • Sign up • Take SAr • Researcl take any • Take cha 0) O' 0 -, o CD : : • • Take PS AT in October • Start looking at colleges in cities you travel to • Look for a summer internship • Sign up for AP or honors classes for next year • Get to know your counselor 'I £ Natio Education ■¡gti . Wins wuts ttm MMinodftc*
