Sarah Withey Golden: High School Dropout to Passionate Educator
May 2018
We spotlight Sarah Withey Golden, Elementary Science Specialist at OUSD’s Think College Now. We are inspired by Sarah’s relentless drive to bring hands-on science to all of her students. Enjoy this Q&A with Sarah on her journey from high school dropout to passionate educator.
Sarah Withey Golden is an Elementary Science Specialist in OUSD. Sarah teaches Kindergarten through fifth grade Science at Think College Now elementary in the diverse Fruitvale district of Oakland, California, where she strives to create equitable access to hands-on Science for all of her students. Sarah has participated in CRS SSS challenge highlighting the learning she and her students are doing in the lab. Sarah happily provides CRS with an abundance of photos of science in action.
How did you wind up as a teahcer? Describe some of the main mileposts along your journey.
Sarah’s pathway to succeeding in school and becoming a science educator is a journey she readily shares with her students each year. Sarah feels it is important to be transparent and “real” with her students. “My students deserve to know what uphill battles may await them. They deserve to know that everything in life takes hard work and determination. They deserve to know my struggles. I am not perfect. I never will be. I have learned how to learn from my mistakes. Perseverance does not come naturally; I learned how to push myself forward. I learned how to ask for help. I learned how to succeed. They can learn these things too. And I will be there for them every step of the way.”
Sarah is what you might call a natural social scientist- always observing and responding to the conditions around her- and only recently a physical scientist. Sarah was born & raised amongst the sandy beaches and palm tress of Juno Beach, Florida. Throughout her senior year in High School Sarah struggled to remain in school as she tried to navigate the separation of her parents. Feeling lost, she dropped out of high school and took the GRE. Sarah was eager to join the “working world” and support herself through a career as a nanny, offering support and care to children in split households. While working for a divorced family with three children (4, 8 & 13) Sarah started college classes at Palm Beach Community College (now, Palm Beach State). At the age of 23, Sarah took a job that would eventually move her from east coast to west, a 3,000+ miles journey away from her family, all the way to San Francisco, California. While in California, Sarah resumed her college career at the age of 28 at City College San Francisco after an injury she received while working as a nanny for a set of identical twins in Noe Valley left her unable to continue working for the family. Sarah decided to utilize the time off to go back to school.
After graduating with honors from CCSF, Sarah went on to study Psychology and Human Sexualities at San Francisco State University (SFSU) with a focus on Abnormal Psychology Research and Human Development. Sarah graduated from SFSU magna cum lade with a 4.2 GPA, a member of PsiChi (International honors Society for Psychology) and a founding member of DEI fraternity (How’s that for a HS dropout!) something she would later refer to with her students as showing ganas! After a year working in research Psychology, Sarah found her new career to be lacking essential necessities for her to really thrive and enjoy growing with the company. Sarah decided to try her hand at substitute teaching while looking into other possible jobs in the psychology field. Sarah was surprised at how rewarding guest teaching was; she enjoyed learning side by side with students. After a year of substitute teaching, Sarah applied for a permanent STIP sub position at Think College Now, a title 1 school in the fruitvale district of Oakland. Immediately, Sarah knew she had found a hidden gem in OUSD and was determined to stay within the Fruitvale community she found so rewarding. At the end of her first year at TCN, the current Science teacher accepted a position as the head of the Elementary Science Department and Sarah quickly jumped to apply for the open position.
Sarah enrolled herself in a credential program and started learning beside her students, openly sharing her mistakes along the way with students as a way to connect. For three years, Sarah has taught 6 different grade level classes during the day, utilizing any available breaks to step in and observe her colleagues in action. Sarah spent her evenings learning online from advisors and peers in her program. Sarah has strived tirelessly to provide high quality science instruction and hands-on learning for her students while learning the ins and outs of teaching. “It is important to me that my students have high quality, equitable instruction. If I do not know how to provide that in a given lesson, I sit down and research it; I ask a colleague. My students deserve that kind of dedication. Just because I am learning to teach does not mean that the quality of their education should suffer. I would rather lose sleep than them lose out on equitable learning.”
Sarah takes great pride in the newcomer and GLAD strategies she has developed over the past 2 years. One strategy she particularly enjoys… illustrations! One step into Sarah’s Science lab will reveal working word walls for each grade, K-5. All sentence strips Sarah creates are accompanied by hand drawn illustrations for her [ELL] students. “My word walls are accessible and students are encouraged to help themselves to the scaffolds they need when they need to utilize them.” Students at Think College Now take great pride and ownership of their science notebooks, helping to co-construct color pictorials to make meaning of the hands on investigations that they explore with Sarah. “When students work on their science writing/diagrams, they can be found using the sentence strips to correctly spell their vocabulary/labels. That is not something that I require, it is something they choose to do. They want their work to be accurate. They want their work to be scientific. And scientists use labels.”
Passing by Sarah’s Science Lab bulletin board you will notice high-resolution color photographs illustrating elementary scientists in action; question starters for students to talk to their peers about current investigations help students spark conversations during lunch and recess and keep the conversation of science alive throughout the day! Sarah can also be regularly found on the recess yard or in the cafeteria engaging with students on her breaks. In fact, Sarah’s impact on students’ curiosity and thirst for knowledge can be seen by the myriad of “gifts” they regularly bring her from home or from family outings. These “offerings “range from dead insects to rocks to tree parts to the occasional metal trinket that sparks a question in which the student desires to have a deeper understanding. “I absolutely love when students bring me things they discover, I get to learn more about their interests as well as glean an opportunity to make a deeper connection with them and their family!”
How have you grown in your science teaching?
As a Lead Science Teacher, Sarah has participated in Lesson Study with other Science colleagues, taking turns teaching at other OUSD schools to develop her and her colleagues’ understanding of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and how to maximize science learning for all students across the district.
As an NGSS Early Implementer in OUSD, Sarah has dedicated one week each summer since 2014- current, to learning about the new Science Standards and how her school will implement the Next Generation Science Standards during the 2018-19 school year.
As a wellness champion, Sarah has worked with her food corps member this year to extend garden education as well as assist her school in transitioning towards healthy eating policies for lunch and school food sales. Sarah is currently working with her Food Corps member to arrange for 3rd party school lunch donations to the local city-sanctioned homeless encampment (The Village) on east 12th, just four blocks north of Think College Now.
As a lifetime Psi Chi member, Sarah routinely mentors undergraduates in SFSU’s Psychology department. She communicates regularly with students via email answering questions and helping navigate their first year in the department. Sarah helps to encourage striving students to stick with the program and connects them to available resources.
As a CRS SSS, Sarah uses her teacher prizes to create more opportunities to connect with her students. Sarah creates class raffles with tickets to A’s games, museums, the Zoo, etc and encourages students to enter their school Panther Paws (incentives for showing core values at TCN) into the raffle to spend a day with her outside of school. Sarah thoughtfully considers all entries and usually chooses a student who would most benefit from the positive one-on-one adventure. Sarah’s commitment to building relationships with all of her 300+ students is admirable.
During Sarah’s short teaching career, she has received recognition for her commitment to Excellence in Elementary Science Instruction by OUSD’s Science Department as well as Community Resources for Science, additionally, she has been mentioned in an EdSource article about early childhood education and classroom pets, all while still working on her preliminary teaching credential!
Who inspires you and why?
Sarah is surrounded by so many sources of inspiration that it is hard to choose which ones to talk about! In the spring of 2012, Sarah was introduced to an elderly blind woman in Berkeley, California who needed a volunteer reader, someone reliable whom she could trust to open and read her mail, and help pay her bills. Sarah has spent every other Saturday morning with her Berkeley friend since 2012. Sarah has found a major source of inspiration in her Berkeley friend, who is one of the most independent and resilient people she has ever known. Working with elementary students and visiting with the elderly keeps Sarah connected to both ends of the human spectrum. And watching her Berkeley friend navigate our challenging world with such positivity and grace, well into her 90’s, keeps Sarah inspired and motivated to live life to her fullest, which includes passing on that love of health and life to her students.
My students! My students constantly inspire me. They really are the reason why I do what I do. I couldn’t be the educator I am today without my students. They are brave, strong, brilliant, resilient and supportive! Watching my students put their hands on new materials is inspiring! That ah-ha moment gets me every time, it is truly priceless. Watching my students discover new innovative ways to approach challenges gives me hope for the future of our nation. Especially when the climate and culture of our country is not one where Science and Engineering is currently viewed as essential. When I start to feel down about the state of our nation, I remember that I am leading leaders. I have the power to help change this world we live in. I have the power to instill humanity, innovation, imagination, creativity, and love for all that is life in my students and their families. ¡Juntos, si se puede! (Together, yes we can!)
My mum! My mother, a Florida educator is also a HUGE inspiration and support for me. While in middle school, I watched my mother go back to graduate school to further her own teaching career. I remember admiring (and still do admire) her ability to manage our family, a job and a masters program. When I worried about going to grad school full time while teaching full time, I was reminded of my mother’s determination and motivation. I knew that with her support and guidance, I too could make his happen. Furthermore, watching my mother creatively guide her students over the years has been extremely impactful. Hearing the passion in her voice when she shares her current reading/writing lessons inspires me to create lessons that I am passionate about as well; when I am passionate about my lessons, my students are too. I am thankful that I have my mum as a source of inspiration to help me in continuously creating a passionate climate and diverse culture in my classroom.
Describe a goal you have any why it’s important to you.
I am always looking for small steps that I can take towards closing the achievement, opportunity, and learning gaps for my students.
One of my personal and professional goals is to have more outdoor adventures; to explore this diverse world that we live in. I wish to bring more of my love and appreciation for the outdoors into my classroom. My students don’t always get the opportunities to travel and explore new places. I aspire to digitally document my own explorations and bring them into the classroom to connect to their learning. This summer I am embarking (with my favorite educator, my mum!) on a glaciers and fjords kayaking trip in Alaska. While there, I will document my adventures (photos, videos, artifacts) so that I can bring new experiences to life with my students. I strive to expand my students’ understanding of the world around them as they navigate their way through elementary school and move on to middle school, high school, college, and beyond!
Additionally, I have plans to create a wilderness/adventure club at Think College now during the 2018-2019 school year. The program will focus on empowering students and their families to utilize public transportation to access and explore east bay regional parks! The club will meet bi-monthly, once to plan, and once to execute, a trip to a local east bay regional park. Students will learn how to prepare for a hike as well as gain more confidence exploring and navigating nature.