Robert L. McCall 2nd

I have been a high school Science teacher for the past six years. I have taught Chemistry, Physical Science, Biology II, and ACT Prep at the high school level. I have implemented a curriculum in my Science classes centered around a hands-on and laboratory skills based approach. I built the Science curriculum not only on state standards given to me by Tennessee, but I also aligned each state standard with specific laboratory skills. I keep close ties to local Universities and discuss with professors the laboratory skills that are needed for their freshmen level Chemistry and Biology classes. Based on the laboratory skills discussed and observed in freshmen level classes I created a list of laboratory skills to center state standards and Science content on. In addition to the laboratory skills being the centerpiece of instruction I also implemented research projects for students to demonstrate their knowledge of laboratory skills and their knowledge of the scientific method. To help students gain even more in-depth practice with laboratory skills and to better prepare them for careers in STEM I started a summer research program with the University of TN at Martin's Chemistry Department in 2017. The research from that first year of the summer program was submitted to the TN Junior Academy of Science Competition, and my students were invited to present their research in March of 2018 at Belmont University. The data, research paper, and presentation that was generated during last years research is available at the following link. I hope to continue this summer research program with funds donated for this new experiment that my students and I are trying to implement this summer. I have made it a goal in my teaching to create a Science program at Greenfield High School that can properly prepare students for careers in STEM and better acquaint students with the fact that having a scientific mind can benefit their community and ultimately society.

June 2018