My Favorite Teacher *EVER*
A paper about Sean McGowan
(1959- )
Cotter Ellis
Physics
Mr. McGowan
December 1st, 2006
Sean McGowan is one of a number of exceptional Science teachers in the United States today. These men and women inspire and educate students all over the country to excel well beyond what they ever though they were capable of. McGowan and his predecessors and contemporaries have been the driving force behind the technological explosion of the late 20th century and today.
Sean McGowan was born in 1959 in Washington DC. The son of a cold war spy, he grew up in a Maryland suburb and attended a large school system where he was able to take many accelerated Science and Mathematics courses. He graduated with honors from Merrimack College in Massachusetts with a double degree in Mathematics and Biology. McGowan later earned a Masters Degree in Applied Mathematics at The University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
McGowan's professional life has been mostly teaching positions. He taught Calculus and Physics at a private school in New Hampshire, and later Physics and Computer Science at a public Massachusetts high school. McGowan also taught for three years in the Mathematics department at UMass Lowell, and has been teaching Math and Computer Science as a member of the adjunct faculty at UMass for 23 years. McGowan spent five years between teaching assignments working for a US Government contractor on several different projects for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, or SDIO, better know as the "Star Wars" program. Before returning to teaching, he worked for Howard Hughes Medical, out of Harvard University. McGowan was the computer systems manager and a research assistant for a team of PHDs working on the sequencing of AIDS proteins.
Although McGowan has completed three separate degree programs, published a scientific database on atmospheric structure, and worked on the cutting edge of AIDS research, he will tell you that his greatest accomplishment is "launching" young scientists. One of the first students he ever had is currently running a US Navy Nuclear Plant, and teaching U.S. Naval Academy Physics graduates how to manage Nuclear Power. A recent former student is working with a PHD advisor on String Theory research. Another former Computer Science student is currently one of Google's top programmers. Throughout his career McGowan has said that what he enjoys most about teaching is being able to challenge exceptional students. He has been able to do this with high school Honors Calculus classes, Calculus and Differential Equations courses for Engineering students at UMass, and high school AP Physics courses. McGowan has also designed several independent study courses for accelerated Computer Science students at his current high school. Outside of the regular classroom, McGowan is the advisor for a competitive Mathematics team that competes at a high level and challenges for the regional championship each year. He is also the advisor for his school's competitive Chess team as well as the president of the interscholastic league that the school competes in. McGowan's teams have made the league playoffs each of the last 5 years, compiling a record of 36-3-1 over that time. McGowan and his department chair Mr. Michael Griffin have created a scholarship competition in Science exclusively for young women. Exceptional female students are challenged in several areas of Science and compete in the yearly event for thousands of dollars in scholarship money. Built into the competition is the opportunity for these students to interact with Women who are themselves in the midst of successful careers in Science and Technology.
In recent years McGowan has done more work with students who are not so intellectually gifted. He has come to enjoy taking students who are not excited about education in general and turning them in to inquisitive and energetic young scientists and computer scientists. With a teaching load that includes 9th grades students who are not classified as exceptional or high achieving, McGowan embraces the challenge of showing them that learning can be enjoyable and an invaluable advantage as you move from high school to college or the work force. He includes "real-life" examples and anecdotes in his Physics lectures and incorporates many "hands-on" experiments to engage and excite the students. McGowan challenges any student who takes a second course in Computer Science by having them compete on an international level in the American Computer Science League. This shows even students who do not think of themselves as "Scientists" that they have skills that are on the same level as young programmers all around the world. It is this sort of revelation that spurs some students on to achieve well beyond what they ever could have imagined. McGowan also organizes a Chess club where students of any ability can learn and play Chess. Routinely, students develop higher order thinking skills and problem solving skills without even really understanding what they are doing, because they think they are just playing a game. Junior and Senior students are often surprised when they are invited to compete with the Chess team, because they still view themselves as the same "bad" player they were when they started playing with the Chess club years earlier.
The Chess Club and the independent Computer Science courses are two examples of how McGowan uses other students to help the new students along. This is a technique used by great educators everywhere. McGowan designs the CS courses and organizes the Chess club so that the older more experienced students naturally help the new students along, often without either realize that the interaction is by design. McGowan's success as an educator comes as much from his skill as a teacher as it does from his brilliance of mind. To be truly exceptional, an educator must posses both a deep understanding of his material, and a talent organizing, and presenting material.
Finally, an exceptional educator must be able to understand and communicate with his students at all levels. McGowan has been coaching Soccer, and Track and Field for 4 different high schools, and at UMass, during his long teaching career. Interacting with the students as athletes as well as academicians is a key to gaining the respect and cooperation that is needed for all of this to work. The students see McGowan as an actual person, and not just a nerd, or an anti-social genius.
McGowan and men and women like him, all over the country continue to inspire, motivate, and teach young students as they have never been taught before. Gone are the days of monotone lectures and students sitting at desks doing busy work. In today's classrooms and indeed all over today's high school campuses, McGowan and his contemporaries are helping to fuel the scientific, technological and intellectual explosion that drives the ever expanding knowledge base of the 21st century. McGowan believes that any student can join the party, and actively invites them all with each class he teaches and each event he organizes.
Notes:Paragraph #1 is the "introduction"
Paragraph #2 and #3 is the "short biography"
Paragraphs #4-#7 make up the "guts" of the paper where you talk about the scientists major achievement, in this case, the general achievement of inspiring young students. In your paper, you will likely have a more specific major achievement, such as the discovery of a particular formula or phenomenon.
Paragraph #8 is the "nifty conclusion". Remember that a conclusion should, in part, restate your introductory premise.
This paper may be a little longer than yours. Please do not worry about the length of the paper. If you follow directions and do a good job, the paper will be long enough. Enjoy doing the research, and ask questions.