Today@Sam Article
Doctoral Student Receives Teaching Award From Houston Museum of Natural Science
Nov. 6, 2024
SHSU Media Contact: Mikah Boyd
Sam Houston State University doctoral student, Sydney Berenzweig, recently received the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s (HMNS) Wilhelmina C. Robertson Teaching Excellence Award for the unique ways she has worked to engage students in her sixth-grade science class at Fairview Junior High School in Alvin, Texas.
Berenzweig has been a student at SHSU throughout her college career, having first come to campus in 2018 as an undergraduate education major. As she progressed through her own education, she came to realize that having a doctoral degree could help her be a better advocate for her students.
“I want to make an impact, so the kids that are not in the best homes at least have a safe place,” Berenzweig said. “Growing up, school was my safe place, so I want to try to continue that cycle of good.”
Her receipt of the museum’s teaching award shows the impact she has had on her students is already making waves. The award is offered to sixth to 12th grade math or science teachers from the Houston area who have demonstrated their ability and dedication to teaching. Winners had to speak on their teaching philosophy and provide specific examples of how they keep their students engaged in learning math and sciences through various projects.
For an example of one of her engaging class projects, Berenzweig submitted an innovative, hands-on activity that utilized Starburst candies to teach her students about various types of rocks and how they are formed.
“We start with weathering down the rocks, so we tear apart the Starburst,” Berenzweig said on the class project that earned her a place among the HMNS’s teaching award recipients. “Then we push the pieces together to show sedimentary rock. We later melted them a little bit to demonstrate metamorphic rock, then we completely liquefied it to show magma and how igneous rock forms. They don't get to eat it afterwards, because that would be really gross, but it's fun for them to use candy in class.”
By pairing activities such as this with the numerous class pets and the overall welcoming environment of her classroom, Berenzweig has found her class to be a haven for students, even after they’ve moved on to the seventh grade. A big part of what makes Berenzweig’s class so appealing is how she uses her aptitude for math and science to develop fun and engaging lessons that appeal to all students, including those who have previously struggled in those subjects.
“Math is what I originally went to college for because I know a lot of kids have trouble with it and it’s one of my favorite subjects,” she said. “I find it fun to try and make it fun for them. I just so happened to be hired as a science teacher instead of a math teacher, so now I get to be the classroom with over 30 class pets, and the students really enjoy that.”
Another way she engages with her students is by utilizing some of the slang words she hears from her Generation Alpha kids. This includes having a list of banned words to keep the pre-teens from parroting the phrases around the classroom. Berenzweig then uses words from that list to describe scientific concepts they are learning, such as the states of matter.
“Guys, these gas molecules, they hate each other. They’ve got beef with each other, it’s on sight,” said Berenzweig to her students. “You could say that they’re sigma and they got no rizz, and all of them are cringing because the teacher is saying it, but it’s making them remember.”
The candy-based projects and Gen Alpha slang posters are not only for the students’ benefit. Berenzweig has ADHD and knows from her own experience the struggles that her students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder face in school. By having this personal experience, she can connect with her students on a deeper level. She knows that if she is enthusiastically engaged while teaching, her students will be enthralled during her lesson.
“I grew up with special needs as well as gifted and talented, so I was on both ends of special education,” Berenzweig said. “Special education refers to anyone that needs additional resources, so gifted and talented kids and special education kids both need more accommodations, and I think they’re the forgotten populations of schools because of that. It wasn’t fair to me to be singled out like that growing up, so I try my best to be that safe person that they can come to while still covering all the bases and teaching science at their level.”
While her graduation date grows nearer, Berenzweig plans to remain at Fairview Junior High School and use her doctoral degree to amplify her voice as she continues to advocate for her students. She has seen how those with PhD after their names are able to be changemakers in the district and is looking forward to doing the same.
“My first year teaching, I thought I was going to leave the profession completely and have to go get a new degree,” she said. “But then I found my home, and teaching is my passion, so I’m going to stay here as long as I can.”
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