Babette G. Stephen

Biographical Information

I have been teaching science for 28 years. I have taught AP Biology, regular and Honors Biology, Environmental Science and Physical Science.  I like teaching Biology because of the interesting labs/dissections that we do. I believe that Biology is the most important class that a young person can take in high school.

Seven years ago I attended the Woodrow Wilson Institute in Environmental Science. It was a most wonderful experience.  I have great memories and skills from that summer. I also attended the AP Biology teacher certification class at Stanford University that same summer.

I traveled the circumference of the U.S. during that summer. It was one of the most wonderful summers of my life.

My husband owns and manages an electronics business here in Louisiana. Our son is employed as a Computer Consultant at Exxon-Mobile in Baton Rouge. His wife is the District Director of the Diabetes Foundation of LA. They were married July 21st last summer.

Work Information

Job Title/Department

• Science Teacher

Courses/Levels taught—Key responsibilities

• Biology
• AP Biology
• Honors Biology
• Environment Science
• Honors Environment Science
• Physical Science

School Information
Northside High School
301 Dunand Street
Lafayette LA

Contact Information
babette@eatel.net

Dwight Stoltzfus

Biographical Information

You could say that education has been an integral part of my life. Since age five, I have only spent one year where I was not in a classroom either as a student or as a teacher. This time period includes 29 years of teaching that includes science instruction at the high school, community college, university, and graduate levels.  It also includes the following degrees: BS in biology education from eastern Mennonite University, MS in biology from James Madison University, PhD in ecology from Rutgers University.  I am currently teaching AP biology and general biology at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.  This is my first year teaching high school again after having taught science education, ecology, and biology courses for eight years  at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas.

My family includes my wife, Susan, a speech-language pathologies, a daughter, Jessica, 18, and a son Reuben who is 14.  We live in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  Our favorite pastimes include fall soccer, indoor soccer, spring soccer, summer soccer and any other soccer there is.  In addition to soccer, we do like to travel and camp when we have time.

My science background is the past has included primarily areas related to field biology and has focused primarily on community ecology and wetland ecology. I am excited about expanding my interests through this institute to areas of molecular biology and genomics.

Work Information

Job Title/Department

• Science Teacher

Courses/Levels taught—Key responsibilities

• AP Biology
• Ecology
• Science Education

Clubs and Extra-Curricular activities

• Soccer
• Travel
• Camping

School Information
Plymouth Whitemarsh High School
201 Germantown Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462

Contact Information
dsfoltzfus@colonialsd.org

Daniel J. Struck

Biographical Information

I was born the sixth of ten children, in Louisville, Kentucky. I became a Hoosier after my freshman year of high school.  It took me five years to work my way through college.  I graduated from Indiana University in 1967.  Recruiters talked me into teaching at least one year before joining the service. I took a job teaching ninth grade physical science and coaching freshman football at Jennings County High School, a rural school of 1300 students that come from a 400 sq. mile area. At the end of that first year of teaching fellow coaches (two ex-marines) and teachers convinced me that I would be of more value to my country by serving in the classroom than in the armed services.  I continued to coach, sponsor clubs, and do wedding photography for the next 20+ years. During the early summers of my teaching career I did take advantage of NSF summer programs at Michigan Technological University and George Peabody College.

I marred in 1972.  This resulted in three children.  The youngest will graduate from I.U. this May (’02).  When my wife earned her teaching degree I quit both coaching at the high school and doing wedding photography in order to spend more time with family. It was great to have the time to enjoy the kids and to watch them as they participated in extracurricular activities.

I started teaching Biology about eight years ago.  For me it was quite a change from teaching Introductory Physical Science.  I still struggle with having enough hands-on activities. Two years ago we added several one-semester classes to our curriculum – one of which is Genetics. As I had always enjoyed the Genetics section in Biology, I volunteered to teach it.  Things have changed quite a bit since my college course back in 1965.  Being in a serious need for an update I look forward to this summer.

My students feel that my claim to fame is being “Cassius Clay’s paperboy”. Even today he has fans of all ages.

Work Information

Job Title/Department

• Science Teacher

Courses/Levels taught—Key responsibilities

• Biology
• Genetics
• Physical Science

School Information
Jennings County High School
800 West Walnut
North Vernon IN 47265

Contact Information
djstruck@yahoo.com

Evelyn Taylor

Biographical Information

I am the mother of two lovely children; 23 year old Catrina and 13 year old Michael.  I am currently teaching 7th grade physical science and 8th grade biology/living environment at Public School 12 in Brooklyn, New York.

I have been an employee of the New York City Board of Education since 1978, entering the Board of Education through a program called the After School Occupational Skills. The program served thousands of high school students who were interested in learning a vocational skill at an early age.  I enrolled into the Television Production class at Boys and Girls High School.  The high school worked with the Ted Bates Advertising Firm and the Boys Scouts of America. The NYC Board of Education was very impressed with the film production which the students attending the program produced.  I was hired as a part-time student aid while attending my first years of college at Bernard Baruch College in Manhattan.

I continued by education and advanced in position in the Board of Education. At the end of the program I was transferred to Sarah J. Hale High School’s Special Education Department for 17 years Upon the reorganization of the school’s curriculum I decided that I wanted to experience something different.  I applied for a position of Math/Science teacher in an elementary school. I was fortunate to be received by an energetic Science Coordinator in School District 17. I have received an abundance of professional development and academic rewards since my arrival at the school.

I am an active participant of the Community School District 17 in collaboration with Long Island University’s Science Inquiry Program: K-8.  The LIU program allows science teachers to deepen and expand comprehension and capabilities in science inquiry as a continued search for meaning and the exploration of observed phenomena. This cultivated participation has heightened my knowledge and capacity to create, support and implement science inquiry project inside the classroom The requirements are simple and implementation of science performance in the classroom is beneficial for the student body in the middle school science lab.

Work Information

Job Title/Department

• Science Teacher

Courses/Levels taught—Key responsibilities

• Biology

School Information
Public School 12
430 Howard Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11233

Contact Information
kennethlaidlow@hotmail.com

Kira C. Taylor

Biographical Information

I am originally from the scenic town of Charleston, West Virginia, but have lived all over the United States. I attended Rice University as an undergraduate, and then pursued a Master’s degree in Biological Science at Stanford University. Last but not least, I earned a Master’s degree in Education from Wake Forest University.  I am new to the teaching profession (this is my 2nd year), and I have had the good fortune to be able to begin my career at the Westminster Schools, a wonderful independent school in Atlanta.

I presently teach Biology and Chemistry. Although my undergraduate and graduate degrees were both in Biology, I have also greatly enjoyed teaching Chemistry. In fact, one of the reasons I decided to become a scientist was because I had an inspiring and caring chemistry teacher in high school! I have a well defined teaching philosophy; I use Lawson’s contructivist learning cycle (“explore, explain,apply”) as the framework for planning my lessons. I have found it to make both teaching and learning fun and effective.

One of my favorite childhood memories is waking up to the sound of my mother practicing piano. She is a professional pianist, and I inherited my love of music at least partly from her. I play piano, and occasionally sing (backup only). Traveling and learning about new cultures is another of my passions.  I have been to France, England, and Italy, and I have enjoyed learning just enough of all the romance languages to get by. One of my lofty goals is to be able to read “The Little Prince” in Spanish, French, and Italian without having to look in the dictionary every 10 seconds. I also jog and play tennis, and I love to ski.  On Sundays you can usually find me in a café or rollerblading in the park, unless I’m at school preparing for class on Monday!

Work Information

Job Title/Department

• Science Teacher

Courses/Levels taught—Key responsibilities

• Biology
• Chemistry

Clubs and Extra-Curricular activities

• Music (play piano and backup singer)
• Jog
• Tennis
• Ski

School Information
Westminster Schools
1424 W. Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30339

Contact Information
kirataylor@yahoo.com

Stephanie M. Thompson

Biographical Information

This is my second year teaching and I love it. I am currently teaching AP Biology, Anatomy, and Physiology at an all girls Catholic School in Maryland. There, I coach Varsity Field Hockey and coordinate our Mentoring program with John Hopkins Hospital. For the past 4 years I have also been coaching Women’s Rowing at John Hopkins University.

After I graduated from college, I went straight into the medical research world and began investigating Heart disease in families.  I enjoyed my work but it was the patient education piece that really made me happy. After much thought, I accepted a teaching position and believe I have truly found my niche.

I’m currently working on my Master’s and I am constantly trying to increase my knowledge base for the AP course.

My family lives in the Lawrenceville area so I am happy to have the chance to spend a month near them. I also graduated from Lawrenceville and I am looking forward to being back at such a wonderful place.

Work Information

Job Title/Department

• Science Teacher

Courses/Levels taught—Key responsibilities

• Anatomy
• AP Biology
• Physiology

Clubs and Extra-Curricular activities

• Field Hockey Coach
• Mentoring Program Coordinator
• Women’s Rowing Team Coach

School Information
Institute of Notre Dame High School
901 Alsquith Street
Baltimore MD 21202

Contact Information
sthompson@indofmd.org

Billie J. Thorson

Biographical Information

At the age of five, all the neighborhood children were expected to “attend” my school in our attic. I’m afraid I’ve never let up on that concept. Each year as I face all those new students, I get that same excited feeling.

I also became fascinated with science and I still can’t decide which area of science I enjoy the most.  I have taught Biology for twenty years, along with Chemistry, Ecology, Marine science, Physics, and AP Biology.  I returned to Washington State University to receive a Master’s degree in Chemistry at age 50, (which by the way was more difficult than childbirth)!

Besides living at Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor I’ve been blessed with the worlds best husband, Tom, who is a Captain in the Fire department. He’s helped me raise three children who are making their way through the 20 something pitfalls.

Our interests aside from teaching  and fighting fires include skiing, traveling, organic gardening, western dance and shopping.  We met at an off road race where I beat him.  He couldn’t let that go so we got married 22 years ago and I must say, that today he beats me at mowing our two acres of lawn.  We live in the “sticks”, and are at the beck and call of cat Emma.  The local deer will suffer when I attend the CORE institute this summer since they feed off my garden nightly.  This will be a forage year for them and probably Tom as well.  I’m excited to fly off across the country to meet everyone involved with this endeavor.  See you all soon.

Work Information

Job Title/Department

• Science Teacher

Courses/Levels taught—Key responsibilities

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Ecology
• Marine Science
• Physics
• AP Biology

Clubs and Extra-Curricular activities

• Skiing
• Traveling
• Organic gardening
• Western dance
• Shopping

School Information
Peninsula High School
14105 Purdy Dr. N.W.
Gig Harbor WA 98332

Contact Information
thorsonb@peninsula.wednet.edu