Students in North Carolina's science pedagogy course do an experiment as lecturer Alice Churukian looks on.

 

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University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Biographies

David Green, 2007-2008

I am the offspring of two teachers and I have two grandparents that were also teachers so I guess I came to this profession by osmosis. I graduated from Duke University in 1965 with a major in Chemistry and minors in Physics and Math. In summer of 1966 and I spent a year with many returning teachers taking courses through an NSF Academic Year Institute. I earned my MAT in 1967 while teaching remedial mathematics in Wilmington, NC. After earning my MAT, I moved back to Chapel Hill to work on a doctorate in mathematics but the lure of the classroom was too intense and I left the doctoral program and took a job teaching Algebra and Pre-Calculus starting at C.E. Jordan H.S. in Durham, NC. I jumped at the chance to teach physics when the current teacher resigned but I pretty much stunk until after I attended a fantastic NSF Summer Institute in PSSC physics. I have taught Physics steadily ever since and also taught Chemistry Engineering Concepts AP Calculus Computer Programming, AP Computer Science and AP Physics over the years.

In 1970, my school became the second school in NC to get permanent access to computing via a Time-Shared system that eventually served six school systems. I was able to grow demand to the point that we were the first high school in NC to have its own mini-computer installed in 1978 for student use I completed my course work for a PhD in Math/Science Education at UNC-CH but the increasing administrative role from my computer activities made completion of the degree virtually impossible. I did earn National Board Certification in 1999. In 2003 I retired after 37 years of classroom instruction, mainly to rid myself of the increasing burden of the administrative side of my job. I am now "double-dipping" by receiving my full retirement and still teaching half-time at Jordan in Physics and AP Physics.

I have been married for 42 years to my wife, Martha – retired from a 30-year elementary school career. When we retired, we designed and built a new home about 17 miles from Chapel Hill, We have two grown daughters both of whom live in New York City and are classical singers and one grandchild who is the delight of us all!!

Liz Woolard, 2008-2009

In her 41 years of teaching, Liz Woolard has strived to meet the challenges she faces in helping her students find success in learning the concepts and enjoying the applications of physics.  As a dedicated believer in effective communication as a primary tool of learning, she listens. She attempts to establish continuous communication and rapport among herself, students, and parents. She develops a nurturing classroom environment that includes enthusiasm, flexibility, and a willingness to learn and incorporate new technologies into her teaching. She focuses on “activity based inquiry learning” through lab work and cooperative learning. 

Mrs. Woolard graduated from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree in mathematics with a minor in physics.  She now holds a secondary teaching certification in physics and mathematics after twenty-four graduate credits at NCSU. She is a National Board Certified Teacher in Adolescent, Young Adult Science (physics concentration).  She began her teaching career at W G Enloe High School, taught one year at Junction City High School in Junction City, Kansas. Upon retiring from Enloe High School after  40 years of teaching, she is teaching AP physics at Raleigh Charter School.

Mrs. Woolard was chosen as the North Carolina award recipient for the Presidential Teaching Excellence Award in Science.  She received the GTE GIFT grant, the Radio Shack Champion of the Classroom Award, the Business Committee for Education Governor’s Award, the NCSTA District Eight Outstanding Science Teacher Award, and the Sigma Xi Outstanding Science Teacher Award. She was department chair of both mathematics and science at W. G. Enloe Magnet High School for a total of 15 years.

Sharon Cooke, 2009-2010

A friend of mine, a writer, says her motto is “to live to tell the tale.” I would paraphrase her and say my motto would have to be “to live to teach the tale.” The tale that I have chosen to teach as my life’s work is introductory physics. No doubt old teachers and professors of mine that I drove to tears would be surprised to see that I turned out to be a physics teacher. I’m more suited to poetry or history, being right-brained; for those of you into personality inventories I am an ENFP (Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving), not your usual science teacher. Most science teachers are ESTJ’s (Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging) or their quieter brethren, ISTJ’s (Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging). But I came of age during the space race, when science was All and labs were fully equipped. Out of the top ten in my high school graduating class, eight of us became science teachers. The other two became engineers. So I worked for a B.S. in science education and took lit and history classes to pull up my GPA.

When I began to teach physics, I discovered that most of my students were not ESTJ’s and that I understood better than most the problems they faced in grappling with the “Queen of Sciences.” I have had a long and happy career helping students appreciate physics. I have taught academic physics, honors physics, AP physics and engineering physics at the community college level. My graduate work has been largely in the history of science and medicine. I no longer stand in front of a high school classroom on a daily but jump at any opportunity to teach. I hope this position as TIR at Carolina will afford me an opportunity to pass along the knowledge of what I do best.