"The SECME Solution"
Remarks by Erich Landstrom on receiving the annual National Teacher of the Year award during the SECME "Evening of Elegance" Sunday, June 27, 2010.
AUDIO: Boston "Peace of Mind"
2010 SECME National Teachers of the Year Anil Anthony and Erich Landstrom"It feels strange to have all this clapping. Back in my classroom I try to recognize student achievement in a more time efficient manner, so we have what I call a “one second ovation.” We all clap once, we all clap at the exact same time. Can we try that?
It also feels strange to receive the SECME National Teacher of the Year award because I am still just getting the hang of SECME. Every year I become more comfortable, more insightful. I see a new application, make a new connection. So in being evaluated on what I’ve accomplished so far, I feel like I’m still a work in progress. Don't grade me just yet.
But receiving the award does give me a chance to do something I’ve been dreaming of a long time, and after tonight I probably won’t have the chance again. Me, one lowly teacher from one rural classroom, now in the national spotlight. Finally, I have a captive audience with captains of industry, and bureaucrats from the departments of education, and deans from the ivory towers of academia. I have you all in one room in front of me, and I’m going to give you a piece of my mind so I can have some peace of mind. I’m going to tell you what I think is wrong.
Here’s what I think is wrong: last March, the Bayer Corporation released the results of a survey of 1,226 female, African-American, Hispanic, and American Indian chemists and chemical engineers about their experiences that played a role in attracting and retaining them in a STEM field. (Dr. Gulari, you may be especially interested in this).
More than three-quarters, 77% say significant numbers of women and underrepresented minorities are missing from the U.S. STEM workforce today because they were not identified, no encourage, or not nurtured to pursue STEM studies.
The top 3 causes and contributors to underrepresentation in STEM include:
55% responded financial issues related to the cost of STEM education
66% responded stereotypes that STEM isn’t for girls or minorities
75% responded the lack of quality science and math education programs in poorer school districts
I think that’s wrong. Do you think that’s wrong? I knew you would. And do you know, how I know, that you know? Because you came here. You came here tonight to this room with a solution.
And your solution is: SECME.
You believe that to rise about the gathering storm we as a nation must have a beacon and a benchmark for excellence and equity. You have faith in an idea conceived 35 years ago by deans of engineering from the southeast who thought the seeds of diversity in STEM education needed to be nurtured. You helped those plans branch out to 41 universities, the District of Columbia, and the islands of the Grand Bahamas; 40 school districts, thousands – tens of thousands of students.
What is the SECME solution?
SECME is changing the world, one student at time. SECME is thinking out of the box. SECME is igniting the mind through STEM education.
SECME is a partnership of principals and parents and pupils and professional educators.
SECME is a flowchart from classroom, to college, to career.
SECME is a consortium, not a curriculum.
SECME is rockets. SECME is robots. SECME is reading comprehension. SECME is raising the scores on our student’s report cards.
SECME is enrichment for the highest performing students. SECME is dropout prevention for the at-risk students.
SECME is project based learning. SECME is hands-on, mind-on.
What is the SECME solution?
SECME is me. And SECME is me, thanks to you.
Erich Landstrom, 2010 SECME National Teacher of the YearAnd to say "thank you" I would like for you to join me in giving a one second ovation. May I have one second of applause for our business partners; for the board of directors; for the university council members; for the SECME national office staff; for the master teacher mentors.
And for my fellow SECME teachers, I think you deserve two seconds of applause. That’s why I don’t think I’ll ever have a chance like this again – so many great teachers. This year, there were two co-teachers of the year. And I think next year, there’ll be another two, and the year after that four, and then eight. Yes! Yes! YES!
Thank you. Blessed be!"
