Anthony Stetzenmeyer, Chemistry teacher at Belleville High, was recently accepted into the Wayne Resa Master Science Teacher Fellowship. Stetzenmeyer is recognized for his outstanding teaching style by both students and his community, as he always goes above and beyond to ensure student success.
On the MSTF website, the goal of the fellowship is described as providing the necessary learning experiences to build the foundation for effective mentorship, coaching, and leadership. MSTF describes a master science teacher as “An educator who strives to engage students in ambitious practices to meet high expectations and engender an awareness of and a thirst for knowledge and an understanding of the world around them.” MSTF is built on a community of hardworking science educators to progress science education and grow as educators. Stetzenmeyer had been sent an email informing him of his acceptance, and upon explanation of the fellowship, the MSTF Instruction standards of practice are linked. A few examples include leading group discussions where teachers and students work together on specific content, eliciting and interpreting students’ thinking individually by asking questions that allow students to share their thoughts, and supporting ongoing changes in student thinking.”
The eligibility requirements for the fellowship include being a current and certified secondary science educator or elementary teacher within Wayne County, between three and fifteen years of teaching experience, and having 60% of your classes in science classes as an educator. Beyond this, many other factors make Stetzenmeyer eligible as a teacher. An example being character, Stetzenmeyer has shown passion in his field and genuine interest and care in terms of his job as an educator. He has demonstrated ambition, qualification, and has reached high expectations, landing him a spot as an MSFT Fellow among nine other teachers. When asked what he is passionate about in terms of his work, Stetzenmeyer replied, “My first passion is getting students to be like, ‘ohhh,’ or having that ‘aha’ moment.” He follows up with another passion of his from a teacher’s perspective, commenting, “When it comes to teachers, I love actually facilitating experiences, so teachers can think about their practice, think about their students in a way that maybe have not been presented to them other ways.”
As an educator, Stetzenmeyer’s work ethic as a Fellow must change and shift, as he is expected to be directly observable and actionable in the classroom setting. He describes this shift as constant collaboration among science teachers, claiming, “We are going to be constantly talking, collaborating, so I feel like it’s just gonna keep on motivating me, keep on getting me to think, and just like, up the excitement as I go over the whole hump of year ten in teaching.” As a Fellow, a specific detail mentioned in the acceptance letter is refining the classroom as an educator, and it is indicated that there is always room for improvement, especially as a Fellow, where your teaching style and engagement with the classroom highlight a dynamic cycle. When asked about classroom refinement, Stetzenmeyer stated, “My goal was to get more students talking to each other. Students don’t want to talk to each other, or they want to talk to each other about social things, or they feel like they don’t have anything to add because they feel like they don’t have anything to add because they feel like don’t know what’s going on.”
Stetzenmeyer consistently proves that his work ethic is what allowed his acceptance into a community of educators who not only want science to remain dynamic in schools, but for teaching styles and teacher-to-peer communication to become dynamic as well, continuously searching for ways to improve and acting on observations in their work and the work of students.
