The Pioneer high school teacher, Kirsten Workman, was born in Massachusetts and moved to Michigan in the first year. She is the eldest of five brothers and sisters. His father is an engineer and his mother was a dietician who began a second career as a preschool teacher. She says her parents were excellent models for what a learner means life.
Workman’s interest in science in particular came from a fascination to be outside in the wild, her experience in 4-H (goats and horses) when she was a child, the national magazine Geographic Kids that she was impatient to obtain each month, and fairly brilliant teachers who encouraged her interests. Workman obtained his undergraduate diploma in biology and health at the central Michigan university, a master’s degree in teaching at Marygrove University and additional master’s work in scientific education and programs at the University of Michigan.
The director of the pioneer Desmond Smith enthusiastically recommended the worker for this honor.
“MS. Workman is one of the most incredible teachers in Pioneer,” said Smith. “We have a wide range of students and personalities, and she is one of the teachers we know who will reach each student. It is important that each student knows that he is seen and heard and Mrs. Workman does it regularly. We love him at Pioneer.
Describe your career path to your career today as a pioneering secondary school teacher:
Although I always use the sentence: “I still don’t know what I am going to be when I am big”, I would say that my career path has been interesting and fulfilling. My first job at the University was in the Jackson County Health Department where I worked as a health educator in schools for the pregnancy prevention intervention program in adolescents and also with steel workers in the community health and health program. I taught science lessons on weekends at the Hands on Ann Arbor museum, which led to my next career move as manager of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute biology program. This project took me to all the elementary schools of Willow Run and Ypsilant, as well as many elementary schools of Ann Arbor.
I had the pleasure of creating a science laboratory in each school for six weeks and I worked with students and teachers to support teaching and learning science. Each program led to a family biology evening where students showed a project, exhibition or practical activity with their families. My interactions with the Ann Arbor community and the science coordinators at the time connected me with the Mitchell elementary school where I worked as a coordinator of mathematics and science on site for a two -year project with Shelly Bruder. These experiences finally led to my career in teaching. I have taught the sciences and health of college to Slauson Middle School for 23 years and I spent the last three years teaching biology at the High School Pioneer.
What is your favorite experience or demonstration in class?
I am lucky to teach a subject that lends itself so well to innate human curiosity. Practical science and nature are natural hooks for learning. Pass my students outside to explore the woods, ponds, meadows, the adoption of trees, etc. is my passion. There are so many ways to engage with science: laboratories and data collection, reading, interactive group activities, computer simulations, growing plants. The list is endless. Science is all around us, which makes it relatable to all learning styles.
How did you integrate technology into your scientific program?
Technology has evolved a lot during my 26 years of teaching in Ann Arbor! We use access to our student Chromebook to conduct research, collect, analyze and graphic the data, present the results of the experience to our classmates and participate in online simulations and laboratories.
What breakthrough or scientific discovery of the last decade do you find the most exciting to teach?
In the space of my teaching career (2003 ISH), the human genome project “revealed” the benchmarks or the human genetic code. The information we know about genetics continues to extend to the point where the average man has just enough knowledge of genetics to make them want more. Children love to know the use of DNA in the resolution of the crime, how the features have gone from parents to offspring, and what is the probability of (filling the white) transmitted from their parents to them and their children. We organize a week of biotechnology every year at Pioneer who brings teachers and students from the University of Michigan to engage with all our first -year biology courses. Our children can use fanciful pipettes, manage a frost, talk about genetic markers and solve a genetic question. It’s just another way of engaging children to do, rather than learning, science.
How do you encourage students who fight with sciences to stay committed?
Students who fight with any subject need support and encouragement to realize that they can do difficult things. It is not because a subject or a particular lesson does not easily come the first time that they cannot “get it”. Two things that are essential in my practice are to establish relationships with students and let them see me also as a learner. I have a sign in my room reminding my children that Smart is something you get, not something you are. If I can establish a connection with a student, they will learn. If they see me as a “main learner” with certain resources, they can feel less intimidated to take risks in their own learning.
What advice would you give to students by considering a career in STEM fields?
STEM careers are appreciated and varied. There is an adjustment for everyone. Pioneer has so many possibilities for children to connect with careers in STEM fields. Our clubs alone include robotics, genetics, plants, birds, computers, sciences, mathematics, health sciences, environment / green club, etc. I would say to try everything and find your shape!
How do you balance the required program while taking time for practical experiences?
Our program has many practical learning opportunities. They are not exclusive to each other. As long as we meet our standards, our goal should be the student’s teaching. If it still takes a few days to conclude a laboratory, too bad.
What would surprise people about a teacher’s work?
I am not sure that it is a surprise, but teaching is a much longer day than the typical school day. It is also a much longer year than September to June. People outside of our profession had an overview of our value when the children were at home during the cochable. We had to make a monumental change in a very short time.
What do you like in work at AAPS, and at Pioneer in particular?
There are so many things that I like to work in AAPS. I love the diversity that Ann Arbor has to offer in its student population and local resources. We are a much stronger school district because of this. Pioneer does an excellent job to celebrate this through clubs, the days of culture, the performance of the month of black history – this year was particularly brilliant – and through the daily connections that we have between us. I also appreciate the support that my colleagues continue to give me as a “beginner” relating to the Department of Sciences of Pioneers.
Another thing that puts a smile on my face every day – like my brilliant students – is the love that oozes AP when Mr. Smith tells our children to be daring, to be courageous, to be loyal, to love each other and to be a pioneer. (He changed it a little every day). He reminds students every day that they are loved. Maybe I get older and sentimental, but how great is it?
Most importantly, I like my students and their families. My move from Slauson to Pioneer was transparent because I “kept my children”. I am always under the same roof as the students and families that I have known in recent decades. And yes, I recently had my first student from a student!
Favorite book, movie, television show, podcast:
I love to read, even if I made more listening to books while I drive recently. I became addicted to the books of the Second World War II years ago with “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah. Some of my other favorites are “where the crawdads sing”, “The Help” and “Creatures remarkably brilliant”. I can’t choose one. I listen to the Podcast Crime Junkies Weekly. I feel like I was a good investigator.