Spotlight On: RMS Science

This is a new series highlighting RMS staff and departments, organized by RMS parent Hazen Sewell. Our next spotlight is on the RMS Science Department: Alanna Merchant, Beth Whiteside, Emilie Hayward-Allen, and Kyle Chi. 

What is the vision of your department? (What would you like the RMS parents/caregivers/community to know about your department?)

We believe science is for everyone! Our goals are for kids to hone their critical thinking skills, feel empowered as science students and trust in their own abilities, ask questions and nurture their curiosity, build foundational scientific skills, and have fun! 

How long have you been teaching/working at RMS, and in what subject(s) or area(s) have you or do you currently teach/work in?

• Alanna: I’ve been at Roosevelt for 8 years now! I currently teach both 6th and 7th grade science and am thrilled to have a new 6th grade advisory class.
• Beth: This is my fourth year of teaching. I got my teaching certificate after several years as a small business owner teaching crafts, and before that was a software quality assurance engineer.
• Emilie: This is my second year at Roosevelt and seventh teaching science in SFUSD. I teach 7th and 8th grade science and also have a 6th grade advisory class this year!
• Kyle: I am in my second year teaching and I get to work with Roosevelt’s 6th and 8th graders.

 
What was your favorite class or subject when you were in middle school?

• Alanna: I actually liked Spanish and social studies the best in middle school! I loved my 7th grade Spanish teacher, which made class fun, and I love learning about history! It’s fascinating to learn about different culture’s pasts and I loved that history was like one big story-telling class.
• Beth: English! I have always loved language and literature, and am stupidly good at spelling. I think part of the reason I ended up majoring in biology was because I liked all the words! Adenosine triphosphate, mmmm… 
• Emilie: I enjoyed many of my classes and school in general. One of my favorites was Social Studies and learning about world history and I loved learning about different cultures and traditions. I actually remember not enjoying science class as the teachers I had tended to lecture and we didn’t get many hands-on opportunities. That memory keeps me motivated to facilitate engaging lessons and hands-on learning as much as possible.
• Kyle: In middle school, my favorite class was band. I grew up playing the drums and enjoyed taking field trips to places like the Embarcadero, City Hall, and the Asian Art Museum where my classmates and I could perform for the city.

Tell us about your family or family heritage, or a family tradition if you’d like to share.

• Alanna: As my family likes to say, we’re HinJews! My mom’s family are New York Jews (but I grew up outside of Boston! Go Pats!) and my dad immigrated from India. Some of my favorite cultural family traditions are all around food! My grandparents would frequently make dhal for us growing up, and I love a good East Coast bagel and lox - the Bay Area bagels just can’t compare!
• Beth: My parents grew up in Northern Ireland, and immigrated to the US via Canada. My dad was a mechanical engineer, and had gotten a job with Sikorski Helicopter. We lived near Heidelberg, in then West Germany for two years when I was young in order to advance his career. We traveled around Europe during every school vacation! I attribute my love of travel to all the time spent abroad!
• Emilie: My family is from the midwest originally but due to my Mother’s work we spent much of my childhood and teen years in France. A tradition we have is eating Quiche (vegetarian) for Thanksgiving and celebrating epiphany- for the cake- in January. 
• Kyle: Like many of our Roosevelt Trojans, I was born and raised in San Francisco.  I grew up in the Richmond district and have built many core memories here in the city.  I did not, however, attend Roosevelt myself.  I went to A.P. Giannini, which many of my students hate me for .

How can RMS caregivers best show support for RMS teachers?
We all want to give a huge thank you to the PTSA for funding some new science tables and science supplies for our hands-on activities and labs!! Also thank you to everyone who has volunteered on field trips in the past, and look out for upcoming field trip opportunities/needs in the future! Continuing to support in these ways will be immensely helpful! Thank you all so much!