{"id":979,"date":"2020-02-21T08:46:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T08:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/february2020\/?p=979"},"modified":"2020-03-20T15:56:07","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T15:56:07","slug":"rebecca-missler-milken-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/february2020\/rebecca-missler-milken-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Science and Big Results Earn Rebecca Missler $25,000 Milken Educator Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RebeccaThere’s never a dull moment in Rebecca Missler’s science classes at North Pole High School in Fairbanks, Alaska. Whether she has her class blazing up a fire tornado to study the Coriolis effect in earth science class or investigate the biology of an Alaska caribou to understand the animal\u2019s impact on environment, native Alaskan culture, subsistence hunting and land forms, Missler believes in hands-on learning for her students. Rebecca also keeps her students on track with relentless positivity and personalized learning strategies that maximize individual student performance. A trained geologist who spends summers working in the paleontology department of a nearby museum, Missler is always looking for new ways to engage her students and expand their horizons. She even pursued special training and certification to be able to bring a collection of moon rocks to wow the school district’s science classes.<\/p>\n

\"StudentsBut it was Rebecca who was over the moon one morning last December at a surprise school assembly where she was presented with a Milken Educator Award by Milken Educator Awards Senior Vice President Dr. Jane Foley and Alaska Deputy Commissioner of Education Karen Melin. Check out a video of Rebecca receiving the award<\/a>. Missler was named a 2019-20 recipient of the national recognition, which comes with an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize. She is the only Milken Educator Award winner from Alaska this year, and is among up to 40 honorees for 2019-20. Here are some photos of Rebecca<\/a> from the awards assembly.<\/p>\n

Rebecca\u2019s LSSU Memories<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rebecca credits her alma mater, Lake Superior State University, with unearthing her love for geology. \u201cLSSU was where I discovered my love for geology and paleontology!\u201d she said. \u201cThe geology\u00a0professors at LSSU were so excited to share their love for their science with us and we took all sorts of field trips and all the classes were very lab oriented.\u00a0I still tell my students that I picked my college\u00a0major based on the\u00a0field trips!\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca reminisced about some of those field trips. \u201cLew Brown led the amazing\u00a06 week geology field camp around the southwest US in 2002. We had flooded tents in Indiana the first night, had to spend a night in a hotel in Oklahoma\u00a0to wait out a tornado,\u00a0broke down in Texas and spent the day in a 115-degree parking\u00a0lot waiting, hiked around New Mexico desserts with only a geologic map as a guide (this is pre-cell phones and GPS), and\u00a0slept outside in snowy Colorado under tarps shivering, but we survived. It was absolutely\u00a0amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul Kelso led the fantastic field trips through the Appalachian mountains and around upper Michigan’s copper country. I remember cooking burritos on a campfire on the shores of Lake Superior when one of the cooking rocks exploded! I also remember the Tildon Iron Ore mine which is unbelievably massive, as are the mining trucks!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAssociate professor\u00a0Manfred Engel led many field trips around Ontario. He had great stories of his days\u00a0working in coal mines\u00a0in Germany.\u00a0My favorite short field trip of his\u00a0was to a quarry on\u00a0St Joe Island in Ontario\u00a0where I found a beautifully\u00a0preserved trilobite fossil which I show off to my paleontology students now!\u201d<\/p>\n

Kudos for Rebecca<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"The Milken Educator Awards, hailed by Teacher<\/em> magazine as the \u201cOscars of Teaching\u201d has been opening minds and shaping futures for over 30 years. Research shows teacher quality is the driving in-school factor behind student growth and achievement. The initiative not only aims to reward great teachers, but to celebrate, elevate and activate those innovators in the classroom who are guiding America\u2019s next generation of leaders. Milken Educators believe, \u201cThe future belongs to the educated.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Rebecca is building a bridge to that future for her students with an emphasis on STEM education served up in an approachable, down-to-earth manner. Missler presents big-picture concepts via customizable lessons tailored to individual student needs. The result is a vibrant and engaged student body, primed to learn. A district curriculum leader, Rebecca mentors other teachers and takes the lead on spearheading new initiatives for the school district such as Next Generation Science Standards.<\/p>\n

“A great teacher like Rebecca Missler knows that STEM education is the key to better futures for her students,” said Foley. “By providing her learners with the critical thinking skills they need to analyze any problem going forward, she helps them confront the unknown challenges that lie ahead. Her creative, analytical and practical approach is the kind of inspirational leadership we look for in Milken Educators.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRebecca Missler has consistently demonstrated a commitment to her students by going above and beyond to infuse new, creative, and relevant lessons into the classroom,\u201d said Alaska Education and Early Development Commissioner and 2008 Milken Educator Award recipient Dr. Michael Johnson. \u201cRebecca\u2019s dedication to personalized learning and her innovative hands-on science curriculum have inspired student engagement and success. She brings enthusiasm and service to her classroom and colleagues, and is well deserving of this prestigious recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Missler

I am holding up a silli-putty peel of a Theropod track (3-toed dinosaur) we found in Denali National Park Summer 2018 as part of my paleontology field work with Dr Patrick Druckenmiller, Paleontologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Museum of the North and the M.J. Murdock Partners in Science Program, a program that partner teachers with researchers.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cRebecca Missler is such a positive force in the classroom,\u201d said District Superintendent Dr. Karen Gaborik.\u00a0 \u201cShe uses hands-on activities mixed with technology to engage her students and fuel their excitement for learning. She\u2019s also a valued colleague of her fellow teachers, always willing to be a chaperone, serve on a curriculum committee, write a pilot course for the district, or design instructional field trips.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked how she wound up in North Pole, Alaska, Rebecca said, \u201cAt LSSU I worked with conodont\u00a0microfossils with Dr. Lew Brown, and then I got into\u00a0the\u00a0University of Alaska Fairbanks geology master\u2019s program working with Dr. Michael Whalen and conodont microfossils. I TA-ed geology labs and realized I loved teaching science\u00a0more than I liked writing and the research side of science. I then\u00a0transferred into the secondary education program at UAF and have been teaching science\u00a0in North Pole since (just outside of Fairbanks).\u00a0I now have the best of both worlds – I have a masters in teaching but I work at the UAF Museum and in Denali Park doing paleontology in the summer!\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca at Work in the Classroom<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rebecca Missler, a science teacher at Alaska\u2019s North Pole High School (NPHS), works hard to make learning hands-on and relevant for her students. Students set sugar on fire to create \u201cworms\u201d (long columns of black ash) in chemistry and create a fire tornado in earth science to study induction and the Coriolis effect. Missler attended special training to be able to receive a collection of moon rocks, pieces of science history she shared with students throughout the district. It\u2019s little wonder that her students actively participate in classroom discussions and activities, working hard and supporting each other thanks to the positive atmosphere Rebecca creates in her classroom.<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca<\/p>\n

Missler works tirelessly to help others with whatever needs to be done. When the district selected a new learning management system, she requested extra training so she could help colleagues adapt to the new platform. Rebecca served on the mentoring committee for new teachers and played a large role in the district\u2019s transition to the Next Generation Science Standards and Alaska\u2019s State Science Standards. Her work on the district curriculum review committee led to two new classes at NPHS: paleontology and geology, both of which Missler now teaches. She has taken a deep dive into personalized learning, a current initiative in the district, adapting her lessons to students\u2019 particular needs and looking to teaching practices around the world for inspiration. Math often gets in the way of success in chemistry, so Rebecca starts the year with a math quiz, followed by a unit that scaffolds and builds skills where students have deficits. Students show improvement in both science and math with each subsequent assessment.<\/p>\n

Rebecca helped secure a grant to start the NPHS International Club, chaperoning trips to Costa Rica and other foreign countries in an effort to expose students to a wide variety of scientific concepts and projects. She leads the National Honors Society and Academic Decathlon. Trained as a geologist, Missler does field work that she has presented to scientists and science educators at national STEM conferences. She spent last summer working in the paleontology section of a nearby science museum.<\/p>\n

Rebecca earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in geology from Lake Superior State University in 2004 and a master\u2019s in geology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2016.<\/p>\n

More information about Missler, plus links to photos and a video from the school assembly, can be found on the Milken Educator Awards website.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/u>Milken Educator Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Milken Educators are selected in early to mid-career for what they have achieved and for the promise of what they will accomplish. In addition to the $25,000 prize and public recognition, the honor includes membership in the National Milken Educator Network, a group of more than 2,800 top teachers, principals, and specialists dedicated to strengthening education.<\/p>\n

\"RebeccaIn addition to participation in the Milken Educator Network, 2019-20 recipients will attend a Milken Educator Forum in Indianapolis from March 26-28, 2020 where they will network with their new colleagues and exchange ideas with state and federal leaders on the future of education. In addition, the Milken Educator Awards\u2019 \u201cWhy Not Us\u201d program will pair each 2019-20 recipient with a veteran Milken Educator mentor to explore and prepare for expanded leadership roles that strengthen education practice and policy.<\/p>\n

The Awards alternate yearly between elementary and secondary educators. Unlike most teacher recognition programs, the Milken Educator Award is completely unique: Educators cannot apply for this recognition and do not even know they are under consideration. Candidates are sourced through a confidential selection process and then are reviewed by blue ribbon panels appointed by state departments of education. Those most exceptional are recommended for the Award, with final selection made by the Milken Family Foundation.<\/p>\n

The cash award is unrestricted. Recipients have used the money in diverse ways; for instance, on their children\u2019s or their own continuing education, financing dream field trips, establishing scholarships, and even on the adoption of children.<\/p>\n

For more information on Milken Educator Awards, visit www.MilkenEducatorAwards.org<\/a><\/u>\u00a0or call MFF at (310) 570-4772.<\/p>\n

Large portions of this story were borrowed, with permission, from the Milken Educator Awards Newsroom.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Alumni<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Make the connection!<\/h4>

We are proud of our alumni and want you to remain a part of your alma mater. Stay connected through your membership in the LSSU Alumni Association. Join Today!<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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