By Anna Martens / Bowdoin News
Caroline Moore is a Bowdoin graduate and now works with Maine’s Island Institute in the Mentoring, Access and Persistence Program, which provides scholarships and support to high-school island students looking towards higher education. She discussed many benefits and details of the program in the Island Institute’s article “A new approach to post-secondary achievement,” so we decided to talk to Moore further. Below, she articulates her experience with Bowdoin Teacher Scholars and how this opportunity connected to her current job as an educator and coordinator.
I completed BTS in the spring of my senior year, teaching sophomore Biology at Greely High School. I’m still working with schools now, but in a different capacity than a full-time classroom teacher. As coordinator of the MAP (Mentoring, Access, and Persistence) Program at the Island Institute, I work with students and schools from Maine’s 15 year-round, un-bridged islands to provide scholarship and transition support for students looking to expand their educational horizons through enrichment and post-secondary education. While I’m not based in a single classroom, or even a single school, I draw upon skills learned and experience gained through my education classes and the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program on a daily basis. Some of the links are more obvious than others.
I still use the framework of “backwards planning” as I develop unit and lesson plans for monthly webinars and our Summer Leadership Intensive (which will take place at Bowdoin this July, in collaboration with Bowdoin Upward Bound). I differentiate support based on individual needs, meeting students where they are in the process and drawing upon their strengths and interests. I acknowledge the complexity of and impact that home and other life circumstances can have on students.
