Meridith Mitchell
District 8 Director
Nominee: Meridith Mitchell
Biographical Information on Nominee
Meridith Michell strongly supports a holistic approach to science education. Learner -centered, discovery based science instruction is a pivotal component of her classroom practice. Meridith demonstrates her commitment to providing quality science experiences for the children enrolled in her classes, as well as a willingness to collaborate and help other educators enhance their teaching skills through the many duties she performs at IC IMAGINE Public Charter School (K-12) in Ashville, North Carolina. Meridith teaches sixth and seventh grade science and serves as the Lead Teacher on her middle grades team. Her school wide duties include serving as the Chemical Hygiene/Safety Officer, Field Trip Coordinator, and K-12 Science Coach. As a school-wide science facilitator, Meridith designed and directed several professional development activities for IC IMAGINE faculty. She has also planned, implemented and overseen multiple “Science Nights” for the greater school community and three Middle School Science Fairs.
Meridith is certified to teach K-9 mathematics and science. She holds a Bachelor and a Master’s Degree in Education. In addition to being named the 2016-1017 Teacher of the Year, Meridith is a NASA Ambassador and has completed several NASA Professional Development programs. In her position of Ambassador, she has helped fellow teachers in the development of learning experiences, assisted them in acquiring appropriate instructional materials, secured external funding to support teacher and student activities, and aided teachers and students so they had access to accurate and valid scientific resources and information. As the ambassador Meredith is also the faculty sponsors of the school’s NASA student project team who recently represented their school in the NASA student engineering project competitions.
Mission Statement
I love Science! My goal is to inspire others to want to teach it and learn about it! As the District 8 Director I hope to work through the North Carolina Science Teacher Association to develop meaningful professional development for teachers to take back and use in their science classrooms. I would love to connect more schools together and bring science related opportunities to students and teachers in Western North Carolina. My own learning experiences and professional growth has equipped me with knowledge and access to many resources that I can share with other teachers. For example, I can assist teachers with connections to NASA programs in which there are astronauts who will visit and speak to school groups. These professional and other science gurus are willing to come and inspire the next generation of scientists. As the NCSTA District 8 Director and I can serve as the liaison. I want educators to feel empowered to teach science! I want to support teachers in growing their knowledge and bag of "science tricks" to use at all grade levels.
