Branches

Meet Brian O’Connor, our resident of the month!  Brian is working on his certification in secondary science, focusing on Physics, completing his residency in Pittsfield.  “ Many of my best mentors and inspirations in my life have been my physics teachers. They’ve taught me an appreciation for hard work, dedication, knowledge, and empathy, just to name a few critical lessons. If I can provide even a fraction of that mentorship to a few students that need it, I’ll have done justice to those people.” Before joining the TRRE program, Brian was a Physics major at UNH, where he worked as a  peer tutor in physics.  He has lived in many New England locations, including the tiny rural town of Thetford, Vermont. Brian experienced several different public school settings, and found many valuable mentors in the teachers at these schools, especially his physics teachers.  He hopes that through the TRRE program he can learn to provide the same level of mentorship...

(Insert photo) Kiza Armour is a physics teacher at Pittsfield Middle High School and Teaching Mentor for Brian O’Connor.  “I make a difference in the lives of kids who do not have all the life advantages of many students in wealthier districts,” says Armour of one of her motivations for teaching in Pittsfield. Kiza has worked with students in grades 8-12 since 1994 and has been the STEM department chair in Pittsfield for 20 years. Kiza’s teaching experience includes subject areas such as physical science, physics (intro through AP), chemistry, robotics, engineering, computer science, astronomy, senior math and algebra. In addition, she facilitated movie making and oral history learning studios. Essential methodologies in her classroom include; student-centered education, competency-based education and inquiry based teaching methods. Kiza was originally drawn to Pittsfield because of its strong sense of community and commitment to providing classroom technology,...

Jamie Knight was featured in the December 2018 edition of Branches when she was a teaching resident in SAU 3 at Brown Elementary School. Jamie is now working as a second  grade classroom teacher at Edward Fenn Elementary School in Gorham, NH, where she was formerly the Site Director of the after-school program.  As a classroom teacher this year Knight said, " I am  able to connect with the students and establish relationships to provide them with a comfortable learning environment where they feel safe to make mistakes and take charge of their own learning.”  We checked in with Jamie to see how her first month of school has been. Jamie and her daughter, Paityn When asked what makes her community unique, Jamie reported on the many opportunities her students have throughout the year to experience the outdoors through school programming. Her students have already been on a field trip to a local park, have multiple trips to the AMC Center in Pinkha...

Shannon and Ben at WMSI CNC Workshop TRRE recently partnered with White Mountain Science, Inc. (WMSI) and TRRE graduates, Shannon Wydra and Ben Mayerson, for a professional development event to create lesson plans that provide authentic STEM experience to Gorham middle school students. During July and August of 2019, WMSI staff members met with Shannon and Ben to test out a middle-high school level workflow using free and easy-to-use tools to ultimately construct a finger jointed box with a large Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine. A CNC machine is a system where a computer program sends highly precise instructions to a movable tool. Three-Dimensional “printers,” which lay plastic to create finely detailed, well, plastic things, are one CNC device example. Others include CNC routers and CNC laser cutters. CNC machines are not only used by DIY’ers, they are also used by any industry that makes precision parts and products made of plastic, wood, metal, or c...