HHES teacher named AMSTI Teacher of the Month

Sara Richburg, a second grade teacher at Holly Hill Elementary School, was named an AMSTI Teacher of the Month for March.

She, along with Daleville teacher Haley Carter, was chosen from over 600 kindergarten-second grade teachers in the Troy region.

AMSTI, which stands for Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, provides teaching tools, such as science kits, to teachers throughout the state, according to AMSTI Elementary Specialist Dawn Tice. AMSTI is based at Troy University.

"We work through a state grant, and we provide teachers with professional development for math, science and technology," she said. "Those science kits include all types of materials. It can be from live animals (like fish) to plastic spoons."

Richburg said she uses three different kits in her classroom.

"My students are able to grow and pollinate flowers while learning about the stages of plant life as well as the pollination process," she said. "My students get to become agricultural engineers during this kit and create a hand pollinator that can pollinate flowers that are difficult for bees or butterflies to pollinate."

She said her students love the hands-on learning experience they have with the kits provided through AMSTI.

"They love this project," she said. "Currently in our kit, we are learning about solids, liquids, and gases. My students are currently designing their own towers and building them from materials within the kit."

According to AMSTI High School Math Specialist Keri Flowers, AMSTI presents this title to teachers who actively use and promote AMSTI in the classroom.

"It's teaching math and science and technology through hands-on learning, so it's not the sit and get, read a textbook," she said. "It's actually experiencing the science and experiencing the math through those (tools) we provide to the schools."

Richburg said collaboration is one key aspect of teaching that she believes in and that AMSTI supports.

"One main aspect that I feel is extremely important in education is collaboration," she said. "The students need to be able to collaborate with their peers to accomplish a task. AMSTI supports this belief of mine greatly. The majority of the activities in the AMSTI kits promote partner/ group work. This set up allows for students to create and explore concepts while building trusting relationships with their peers."

Richburg said these kits do more than just promote collaboration, though.

"These kits also promote healthy problem-solving," she said. "When the students are actively engaged in the engineering design process, they are creating a model of their design, testing out original design, and making corrections as needed to design.

"I really encourage my students to work through any problems they face to find a solution that not only works for them solely, but could be prosperous/positive for everyone involved. In my classroom, we call these win-wins."

Troy University AMSTI serves over 2000 kindergarten-12th grade teachers in the Troy region.

"I am extremely humbled and grateful to receive this award," Richburg said. "I was first introduced to AMSTI while I was in college, and I immediately fell in love with the lessons and the student engagement AMSTI promotes.

"I have had the privilege of teaching AMSTI science since I started teaching four years ago, and each year, I love watching my students' love and understanding of science grow immensely. I am currently a second grade AMSTI trainer, and I am very honored to be selected as a top AMSTI teacher in my region."

The Troy region encompasses public schools in Escambia, Conecuh, Butler, Covington, Crenshaw, Pike, Coffee, Geneva, Dale, Henry and Houston Counties. There are 11 regions in the state.