Miss-Delectable
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Urbana High School teacher Michelle Shearer believes it is important to motivate students and get them charged up about science.
"When I tell people I teach chemistry, the response is usually, 'Ugh, I hated chemistry,'" Shearer said. "And I tell them, 'Chemistry is everywhere, therefore chemistry is for everyone' -- everyone can learn."
That attitude and approach to teaching general education students as well as future scientists played a role in Shearer being named Maryland's recipient of the Siemens Advanced Placement Teaching Award.
The award brings a $1,000 grant to Urbana to be used for science resources for the school. The awards program is sponsored by the Siemens Foundation, which provides more than $7 million annually in support of educational initiatives in science, technology, engineering and math in the U.S., according to its website.
Shearer's ability to reach and inspire also landed her on the list of semifinalists for Frederick County Teacher of the Year.
In her letter of nomination for the Frederick County honor, Urbana High Principal Kathy Campagnoli said her first piece of correspondence upon transferring to Urbana last July 1 was a letter from a parent appreciative of Shearer's outstanding performance in the classroom.
"(The parent) raved about (Shearer's) enthusiasm, her innovativeness, and her genuine concern for delivering quality science instruction to inspire students, like her daughter, who wanted to challenge themselves in a science or medical career," Campagnoli wrote. "I have witnessed how Mrs. Shearer demonstrates that effective learning has to be equal parts challenge, relevance, applicability and fun."
While Shearer teaches a full-time schedule of advanced placement chemistry, she has taught students with special needs at Urbana . The holder of a master's degree in deaf education, Shearer also taught at the Maryland School for the Deaf for four years.
While a student at Princeton University, Shearer volunteered at the New Jersey School for the Deaf, where she said she fell in love with teaching deaf students.
Regardless of a student's ability, her philosophy remains the same: "Get into the lab, roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
"My general experience is that students respond with enthusiasm," she said. "They're eager and excited to learn."
In her ninth year in two different stints at Urbana , Shearer, 37, said she never tires of the job and never gets bored.
"Every day is different, every class is different, every student is different," she said. "And I never know what the day will bring."
She enjoys pushing her students to challenge themselves and seeing them accomplish things they may not have believed they could do.
"I love to spark my students' interest in science," she said. "Or to have them reconnect with that spark that they had as a younger child but lost somewhere along the way."
Teaching and science seem to be embedded in Shearer's genes. Her mother was an elementary school music teacher and her father, who received his doctoral degree from Duke University, was a chemist at DuPont in Delaware.
She even met the love of her life in Urbana High physics teacher George Shearer. The couple live in Wolfsville with their 4-year-old daughter, Carly.
With regard to the Siemens award, Shearer said it means more to her for the attention it brings to her students' accomplishments than her own.
"We hear so much negative about our young people," she said. "This recognizes and celebrates the good things that students do in the classroom. And it's a way for corporations to recognize teachers who inspire and encourage students to become scientists."
Urbana High School teacher Michelle Shearer believes it is important to motivate students and get them charged up about science.
"When I tell people I teach chemistry, the response is usually, 'Ugh, I hated chemistry,'" Shearer said. "And I tell them, 'Chemistry is everywhere, therefore chemistry is for everyone' -- everyone can learn."
That attitude and approach to teaching general education students as well as future scientists played a role in Shearer being named Maryland's recipient of the Siemens Advanced Placement Teaching Award.
The award brings a $1,000 grant to Urbana to be used for science resources for the school. The awards program is sponsored by the Siemens Foundation, which provides more than $7 million annually in support of educational initiatives in science, technology, engineering and math in the U.S., according to its website.
Shearer's ability to reach and inspire also landed her on the list of semifinalists for Frederick County Teacher of the Year.
In her letter of nomination for the Frederick County honor, Urbana High Principal Kathy Campagnoli said her first piece of correspondence upon transferring to Urbana last July 1 was a letter from a parent appreciative of Shearer's outstanding performance in the classroom.
"(The parent) raved about (Shearer's) enthusiasm, her innovativeness, and her genuine concern for delivering quality science instruction to inspire students, like her daughter, who wanted to challenge themselves in a science or medical career," Campagnoli wrote. "I have witnessed how Mrs. Shearer demonstrates that effective learning has to be equal parts challenge, relevance, applicability and fun."
While Shearer teaches a full-time schedule of advanced placement chemistry, she has taught students with special needs at Urbana . The holder of a master's degree in deaf education, Shearer also taught at the Maryland School for the Deaf for four years.
While a student at Princeton University, Shearer volunteered at the New Jersey School for the Deaf, where she said she fell in love with teaching deaf students.
Regardless of a student's ability, her philosophy remains the same: "Get into the lab, roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
"My general experience is that students respond with enthusiasm," she said. "They're eager and excited to learn."
In her ninth year in two different stints at Urbana , Shearer, 37, said she never tires of the job and never gets bored.
"Every day is different, every class is different, every student is different," she said. "And I never know what the day will bring."
She enjoys pushing her students to challenge themselves and seeing them accomplish things they may not have believed they could do.
"I love to spark my students' interest in science," she said. "Or to have them reconnect with that spark that they had as a younger child but lost somewhere along the way."
Teaching and science seem to be embedded in Shearer's genes. Her mother was an elementary school music teacher and her father, who received his doctoral degree from Duke University, was a chemist at DuPont in Delaware.
She even met the love of her life in Urbana High physics teacher George Shearer. The couple live in Wolfsville with their 4-year-old daughter, Carly.
With regard to the Siemens award, Shearer said it means more to her for the attention it brings to her students' accomplishments than her own.
"We hear so much negative about our young people," she said. "This recognizes and celebrates the good things that students do in the classroom. And it's a way for corporations to recognize teachers who inspire and encourage students to become scientists."