NSF Awards: 1951725
This presentation highlights the NSF NOYCE funded project that Lincoln University is implementing. The REGAL (Reaching Equity Goals At Lincoln) Project is a collaboration with our subawardee-Moberly Area Community College and three partnering school districts- Jefferson City Public School District, Kansas City Public Schools and Mexico School District 58. The program provides full-ride scholarships for college junior and senior STEM majors who agree to teach in the k-12 environment; and paid summer internships for college freshmen and sophomores who are willing to explore an educational component of STEM. Another key component of the project involves developing instructional curriculum and professional development that will assist educators and STEM professionals in modeling culturally relevant lessons in the classroom.
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Hello everyone! Thank you for stopping by to watch our "We're REGAL" video. It highlights the pipeline of STEM majors teaching in K-12 environments. I want to thank my scholars Genae England and Brandon Palmer for their hard work this year; and Mr. Nicholas Jackson who has served as our technology person on the grant. We look forward to the conversation during this showcase.
Genae England
Neela White
Amber Bell
Great work!
Genae England
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Thank you!
Mara Aruguete
Congratulations Dr. Shivers, Genae, and Brandon!!! You are an incredible team!
Genae England
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Dr. Aruguete, you are an integral part of our success.
Rosie Davis
I am humbled by your efforts to do such a great thing with the hope that this video inspires. Thank you for promoting this effort.
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Thank you for taking the time to watch our video and comment.
Brianna Fankhauser
This is amazing! Great work everyone! Proud of you BP!
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Thank you!
Chapel
Bravo! You make us all look good!
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Thank you!
Wendy Smith
Research Professor
Thank you so much for your video to share about your engaging project! What challenges has the COVID-19 pandemic posed to your ongoing efforts? Have you found that the mentor teachers in your partner districts are able to reinforce the culturally relevant pedagogies you have worked into REGAL with your Noyce Scholars? Are the mentor teachers part of the professional development efforts you mentioned?
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Hello, this is the first year that we have had scholars. We scheduled our field experiences in our partnering districts. This year we were unable to have “formal” mentor teachers. However, moving forward we would like to include our partnering school districts in our professional development. This year they were invited but scheduling with a teacher shortage did not make it feasible for districts to send teachers.
Cynthia Callard
David Lockett
Data Science Outreach and Grants Development
Thank you for sharing such an equity driven project. Culturally relevant pedagogy focuses on multiple aspects of student achievement and supports students to uphold their cultural identities. How do lessons connect to your students’ experiences? Do the activities also help students develop cultural identity?
Brandon Palmer
Deena Gould
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Greetings, our scholars attend a monthly professional development with Dr. Aruguete, a professor in Lincoln’s psychology department. She does an excellent job of connecting to our students’ experiences. We have also had our scholars engage at the 49th Annual National Alliance Black School Educators (NABSE) Conference, which their comments about it indicated it helped them with their identity as Black educators. I will encourage the scholars to comment to your post.
David Lockett
Cynthia Callard
Wendy Adams
Brandon Palmer
REGAL Scholar
The lessons are a way for me to get outside my head with my thoughts. They connect to my experience, by me being the person who has the experience, expanding with others who share or connect and correlate with said statement. To connect to my experience is for me to absorb knowledge, retain as much as possible and express it in a manner of its true to me and I mean what I say. No, it is not fact, but it connected me to that certain aspect at that moment.
My experience is different due to being at my first conference back in 2017. Back then, I was thinking like more of a student. Now, the conference is coming from more of an educator standpoint. Develop a cultural identity … That is more of a self righteous trait. To have "cultural identity" and "cultural relevance" are two different topics and they need to be separated. I can have cultural identity within said culture and the power means nothing due to being somewhere not culturally responsive or relevant. We have to move the goal post to more discussions to how can we identify and make a presence known. It has been too much of trying to bring it out of someone. Coming from experience, I hate to say it, but some Black educators do not even care about Black kids, but have all the "Black" they need to identify and justify it with validity as well. To uphold those responsibilities comes from those who attend these conferences, host, fund, and so much more on the backend to take everything learned and put it into action. Professional development and personal development go hand in hand.
So, to answer your questions, the lessons with Dr. Aruguete builds and correlates to the personal growth in which coincides with being more open and receptive to growing my identity with professional development and blend those two … Cultural Identity.
Neela White
Congratulations to all involved in the project, Dr. Shivers and the two scholars highlighted in the video. When the work is mutually beneficial it makes it all the more worthwhile. The school districts will be receiving well-trained incoming teachers, and the scholars have gained valuable in-classroom experience with the local student population. Job well done.
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Thank you!
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Thank you!
Deena Gould
Thank you for sharing. I loved hearing about the REGAL program and seeing your scholar teachers in action.
I am curious about the paid summer internships for college freshmen and sophomores who are willing to explore an educational component of STEM. How does that work? It is a great idea to provide freshman and sophmores a chance to try out teaching. Is that the purpose of the internships? Are those internships funded through your Noyce grant too? Are the internships a form of recruitment?
Brandon Palmer
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Deena, thank you for taking time to watch our video! The internships are designed to have freshmen and sophomores “try out” the field. The internships are funded by the Noyce Grant too, but the monies do not come with a commitment. The internships are a form of recruitment.
Cynthia Callard
Cynthia Callard
Executive Director and Faculty
Thank you for sharing your work. This program seems thoughtfully developed to critically broaden the pipeline to STEM teaching through this Noyce Scholarship Program. I'm curious about another aspect of your project, that you noted, involving "developing instructional curriculum and professional development that will assist educators and STEM professionals in modeling culturally relevant lessons in the classroom." I am guessing this is to come in future years of the program, but wondering about how you are thinking about doing this? It certainly has the potential to become great resources for the field and I am curious to know more. Thank you!
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Hello, Cynthia! You are correct that this professional development and instructional curriculum is to come in the future. However, we have started the process by engaging with professional development with Dr. Imani Goffney. Initially, she addressed the education and STEM departments. This year it was made an institution-wide initiative! She has also facilitated a book-study with the administrators and advisors (Culturally Relevant Trainers) with the REGAL project. As a result, we are beginning to form the topics that will be addressed and ideas that will be covered. I am excited to see how it develops.
Cynthia Callard
Executive Director and Faculty
Thank you for your response Ayanna. Best of luck as you continue your important efforts!
Paige Evans
Hello Ayanna. I enjoyed learning more about your Noyce REGAL program. Congratulations! I also have I was wondering how many transfer from your community college partner?
Ayanna Shivers
Director of School of Education Student Support/PI Noyce Grant
Hello, Paige! Thank you for taking time to learn about our Noyce REGAL project. Last year we did not have any transfers from our community college partner, but I believe that can be attributed to COVID and they were not able to engage as much as they would have liked. This past semester, MACC assigned their advisors and we have started building a presence there. I am looking forward to some transfer students in the 2023 cohort!!!