Teacher's motivation is all about learning

Franklin - A Forest Park Middle School teacher is a finalist for a prestigious presidential award bestowed on a mere 108 educators a year.

Mary Fassbender, who teaches seventh-grade science, is one of three in Wisconsin who is a finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. The trio will be honored Jan. 25 in Madison, and the winner is to be selected in spring.

"She is just a great candidate for this," said Forest Park Principal Theresa West, who nominated the 43-year-old teacher. "She brings science alive in the classroom. She also plans opportunities for students to learn outside the classroom."

West noted that the 21-year veteran educator took her class to Florida two years ago so they could learn about the water ecosystem there.

"They did some swimming with the dolphins," she said. "They did squid dissection. She engages her students in learning and teaches them how to explore like scientists."

Fassbender, who received her bachelor's and master's in education from Cardinal Stritch University, said motivating her students is her first priority.

"You try to help them see what it's like to succeed," she said.

To do that, Fassbender said she uses an empathetic approach that still holds students accountable - a sometimes difficult balancing act.

"I believe science is really important," she said. "It teaches kids how to think critically, not to mention science is changing so rapidly. We're getting kids ready for jobs that don't exist yet."

A tough challenge, but Fassbender rises to it.

"In my class, every unit we do is based on a big question," she said.

Such as?

"How can you build a vehicle that goes straight, far, fast and can carry a load?" she said.

Her students started with a skeleton of a car and can add propellers, or bigger wheels - anything that moves them toward the answer. And by working on that big question, she said, students learn about velocity, speed and mass.

"There's not one way to figure out that answer," Fassbender said. "That's more realistic to what scientists do.

"I think the kids come in here and want to learn and are engaged," she said.

That's not an easy feat for any teacher, and Fassbender has her challenges. Seventh-graders are young adolescents who may be struggling with their identity and self-image. "With this group, rapport is everything," she said.

With a high-school-age daughter, Danielle, and son Max at the middle school, Fassbender understands.

"They know me outside as a mom," said Fassbender, whose husband, Mike, teaches eighth-grade science in Oak Creek. "I think that helps."

As for being nominated for the award, established by Congress in 1982 as the highest recognition for a math or science teacher in the United States, Fassbender is honored.

"My goal is to be the best teacher I can," she said. "I want to keep learning. I don't want to be stagnant. I don't want to be old, burned out and grumpy."