2019 PAEMST Secondary State-Finalist
Platt Middle School, Boulder Valley School District
Erin Greenwood has had the privilege and challenge of enticing middle school students into scientific and intellectual discovery through energy, humor and excitement for 15 years in Boulder Valley Schools. Ms. Greenwood's philosophy is to harness students' strengths and innate curiosity as scientists to promote an environment from which creative, technologically savvy, scientifically literate, responsible problem-solvers can emerge. Using design thinking, phenomena and Next Generation Science Standards 3-dimensional learning protocols, Erin partners with students to invent units of study that promote engagement, equity, and relevance by expansion of “backyard perspectives” into “global perspectives”. Students investigate questions like: "Are there enough resources on Earth for human populations to survive into the future?" collaboratively - as practicing scientists - to uncover the existing body of knowledge and create new knowledge. She believes that the unbridled power of students will solve current and future problems - if given opportunities to practice science in relevant ways.
As a former environmental scientist, Erin was called to teaching science after realizing that she craved a relationship-based way of making change in the world. She often tells her students, “My goal for you is for you to be infinitely more successful than me, because that means I have succeeded as a teacher.” Ms. Greenwood is a National Board Certified Teacher who works as a mentor, coach, expedition guide and adult ally for her students while acting as a teacher-leader in the areas of standards-based grading, curriculum development, interdisciplinary learning, design-thinking, wilderness learning and adaptation of curriculum to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In addition to her passion for teaching, Ms. Greenwood has a family of three: consisting of two teachers and a dog. In her spare time, she spends her time mountaineering, skiing, traveling, reading and pursuing lifelong learning. The experiences she has in the classroom, wild places and through experiential learning have instilled a deeply ingrained passion for the limitless process of sharing knowledge through learning, and learning through teaching.