Michele Cherry

Wentzville, MO | 7-12, Science, 2023

What motivates you to contribute to excellence in STEM teaching?

PAEMST is such an honor and it validates years of honing my science teaching skills. However, the bigger award and higher honor is seeing my students embrace science, inquiry, and engineering design. Lighting a spark that leads to a love of science, a STEM career, or just plain old curiosity, is what drives me to strive for “excellence in STEM teaching” every day, every lesson, every year. PAEMST is affirmation that I am doing it right and making a difference.

What has been the most transformative moment that affirmed your impact on STEM education?

Attending a Project-Based Learning (PBL) workshop years ago was a transformative moment for my teaching in STEM. I had established a multifaceted differentiation focus for my science class, offering student choice in the form of levels of learning, layers of scaffolding, and tiers of expectations. PBL allowed me to revamp my highest level of learning by putting the learning squarely on the shoulders of my learners and adding in a community component. I also used pieces of PBL for ALL of my learners and incorporated a real-world project into each unit of study. The end result is resilient learners that connect the science concepts in the abstract to tangible problems to solve in the world around them.

Using your platform as a Presidential Awardee, how do you hope to advance our nation in STEM?

One area I would like to impact as a Presidential Awardee is conducting professional development in my district, state, and national levels for multifaceted differentiation in STEM teaching. Teachers are facilitators and set-up the learning environment that ultimately allows students choices in their learning. By presenting and modeling this approach, I hope to shift educators' mindset to letting go of rigid, one-size-fits all teaching.

Biography

Michele Cherry has been an educator for more than 30 years and has spent the last 22 years teaching science at Wentzville South Middle School. She previously taught middle school science and mathematics at St. Lawrence the Martyr Catholic School for three years, third grade with a focus on science at Statesville Road Elementary School for three and a half years, and middle school mathematics and computers at Community Day School/Solomon Schecter for three and a half years. Michele is known for integrating a multifaceted differentiation system, utilizing levels, layers, and tiers. Her approach emphasizes student choice and student ownership in the classroom. This has led to presenting sessions on this system at school, district, and state conferences. Michele earned a B.S. in elementary education from Lock Haven University and a Master of Education: Reading Specialist degree from Duquesne University. She is certified in elementary education, middle school science education, middle school mathematics education, and as a reading specialist.

High-resolution version of the teacher profile photograph

The views expressed in awardee profiles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or the PAEMST program.