It’s a warm May afternoon, roughly one week before the students at Jefferson Middle School will be free for the summer. And sitting in his classroom, where physics and math books line the back shelves and calculators, protractors and compasses dominate his desk, Sam Held (M.S., 1999) explains how he made the leap from working on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider to teaching eighth-grade math. Sam came to UT after finishing a bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Rochester. Nuclear physics research drew him to UT’s program. “They were working on an experiment at RHIC looking at J/Psi suppression and that was something I had an interest in,” he said. He worked with professors Ken Read and Soren Sorensen on the Muon Identifier aspect of PHENIX, one of the RHIC experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He finished his master’s degree working with Dr. Sorensen on some of the computing features of the project. But while Sam enjoyed the research, teaching was something that had always intrigued him. While still in high school he taught Spanish and helped orchestrate science experiments for fourth graders. The trend continued in college. “I started teaching as an undergraduate for two years at Rochester,” he said. Upon entering UT’s graduate program he taught undergraduate physics labs for five years. But Sam said teaching really began to evolve as a career choice once he considered “the commitment it takes to be a researcher” and the time away from his family. He and his wife, Erica, have two sons. Sammy is three and Charlie is one year old. So while finishing up his master’s thesis in physics, he took an additional 12-15 credit hours in the College of Education, adding four more for good measure to go ahead and finish a second master’s. “I was working a lot but I did it in one year,” he said. “I just made the sacrifice.” Part of his education requirements involved spending a year as an intern. Sam was assigned to one year of teaching at West High School in Knoxville, where he taught basic physical science, college prep geometry, and physics. West is a professional development school, meaning it has a collaborative agreement with UT to put interns in the classroom so they’ll get a real taste of teaching. Additional coursework is taught within the school by UT professors and high school faculty members. “It worked out very well,” Sam said. “You’re in the school a lot more” and know what you’re preparing for. Working with successful teachers “in the trenches” gave him an idea of what it takes to excel in education. “It is a lot of work to plan and be successful,” he said. “If you want to do well and have the students learn, it’s a large commitment.” During Sam’s internship he was tapped to help out on the State Department of Education Task Force. The group was commissioned to come up with a model for professional development schools and further improve teacher training. From there he went to Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, where he teaches pre-algebra, algebra I and geometry. The greatest reward of trying to impart to teenagers the wonders of math, Sam said, “is when the students get excited about it. They honestly learn it.” One of the greatest challenges, however, is convincing less enthusiastic students to “throw away the crutch,” as when they say “I’ve never been good at math.” Seeing his students grasp the material is worth the extra work of running morning tutoring sessions or staying after school to work through math problems with them. When their appreciation comes through, it’s another sign he’s making progress as a teacher. When asked one of the nicest things he’s heard a student say, Sam is quick to answer, “Thank you, Mr. Held.” Along with the challenges and rewards of academic instruction come the social dynamics of interacting with middle schoolers all day long. The tensest moment in Sam’s teaching career thus far? “I broke up a fight in the cafeteria,” he said. Two students went at each other, but he managed to pull them apart and restore order. Now, Sam said laughing, they know not to get out of line. He also makes it a point to get involved in the extra-curricular aspects of student life at Jefferson Middle. “I like to go to the sporting events,” he said, usually taking three-year-old Sammy with him. “(Students) get to see me in a different light as opposed to being ‘Mr. Math Teacher.’ It breaks down that barrier. It shows them I know what it’s like to have kids. I have kids.” He even chaperoned his first dance this spring. The advice he offers to anyone who chooses the same path into the world of education is to investigate a program like UT’s Apple Corps class, which allows students to work as a teacher’s assistant and see what the job is like. While many physics graduate students pursue positions in research, Sam’s choice to go into education won the endorsement of the physics department, including Dr. Jim Parks, director of the undergraduate laboratories, and Dr. Sorensen. “Dr. Parks and Soren have helped shape my views on education,” he said. “You never knew how people would take it, but Soren was so supportive when I made my decision to do this.” Similarly, “Dr. Parks was very supportive when I wanted to try some new things in the lab.” Teaching the physics labs encouraged his enthusiasm for teaching and his interest in students. Sam taught the physics honors course for three years and found the students bright and engaging. “They had some really insightful questions. I’m very impressed with some of the students who’ve come through,” he said. Education, he thinks, will be his niche in the physics world and he’s hoping to teach it again. While he enjoyed success in research at UT, he gained just as much from his tour of duty in laboratory instruction. “I really did enjoy the time and the people I met in the physics department,” he said. Cross Sections, Spring/Summer 2001 Issue, Contents Page UT Physics News & Notes Page UT Physics Home Page This page was last updated on June 25, 2001. Please send comments to cal@utk.edu.