East Ridge teacher vying for prestigious award

Education wasn’t an integral part of Nancy Berg’s life.
“I was raised in a family where education wasn’t important,” said the East Ridge High School science teacher.
Berg said she hadn’t even intended on going to college, let alone becoming a teacher herself.
But now, Berg has achieved numerous accolades, including being named one of three finalists in the Presidential Award of Excellence for Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST).
“The fact that I came from that environment, with really no positive influence, and be successful is an accomplishment,” she said. “It’s always a competition with myself.”
The PAEMST is the highest honor teachers in math and science can receive, Berg said.
A national panel selects one math teacher and one science teacher from each state to travel to Washington, D.C., to have lunch with the president, meet with legislators and receive a $10,000 prize.
“Having lunch with Obama would be one of the perks — that would be a life experience for me,” Berg said. “I didn’t look at the award from the point of getting another accolade, because I’m fine. I looked at it like an opportunity to really get my voice heard.
“I think I have a good feel of the pulse on what needs to be done. I want to be heard because I think I have something to say.”
Berg said she is most passionate about expressing the need for smaller class sizes and inquiry-based, hands-on learning.
“The teachers are the facilitators,” she said. “You are not spoon-feeding the students, they are discovering.”
The path to teaching
Berg became a teacher really by chance. It was thanks to a friend that Berg even went to college and it was there that she took a class in biology.
“The teacher was just amazing,” she said.
Because of that class, Berg decided to major in biology.
After graduation she began working on genetic research as a lab technician.
“I’m too gregarious to be sitting behind a lab bench,” she said.
It was another friend who planted the idea of becoming a teacher.
“She said to me, ‘My god woman you have the gift of gab, you should be a teacher,’” she said.
With the coaxing of her husband, Berg received her teaching license in 1984.
“I was passionate about it from the minute I started it,” she said. “ I knew so much about science, I just wanted to tell it.”
Berg began teaching in District 833 in 1994 at Woodbury High School.
“I love the way you can light up kids,” she said. “I want to engrain in them a passion to learn.”
A rigorous process
Berg’s husband Ryan nominated her for the PAEMST.
She said she almost thought about not applying for the award since the application process was so involved.
In order to be considered for the PAEMST, a teacher must submit a 15-page application addressing various questions relating to philosophy, methodology and strategies.
Additionally the application needs to include supplemental materials such as a lesson plan, resume and demonstration of how the teacher has influenced education.
The panel judges teachers on: mastery of science content, use of instructional methods and strategies appropriate for students learning, effective use of assessment strategies, reflective practice and lifelong learning and leadership in education outside the classroom.
Berg said she spent close to 120 hours on the application.
“The whole process was very intense,” she said. “It’s a very rigorous process.”
Growing STEM
Berg said she was humbled to learn she was named one of the three Minnesota finalists, out of roughly 30 nominations.
“It felt good,” she said.
Berg said she thinks she was chosen because of her dedication to East Ridge’s Project Lead the Way biomedical sciences course.
Berg was the first teacher in the country to teach the course.
“Every time you listen to President Obama speak he’s always pushing STEM programs,” she said. “The program I’ve been instrumental in developing is a STEM program.”
Project Lead the Way is a four-year course where students explore concepts of human medicine, introducing them to bioinformatics; examining the processes, structures and interactions of the human body; studying prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases; and investigating innovative and designing innovative solutions. The course is centered around an inquiry-based, hands-on approach.
The winners of the PAEMST will be announced this winter.
Berg said she thinks she has a pretty good shot because of her STEM program.
“I don’t think personally I’m any better qualified than most, but it’s the fact that I took the initiative on this STEM program,” she said. “I’m sure the other people are just as qualified teachers, but I think I have a good chance because of the STEM program.”

Originally published August 31, 2011 in the Woodbury Bulletin. Written by Amber Kisbert.