Karen “Rennie” Watson is a Teach Plus Maryland Teaching Policy Fellow. She teaches 6th grade science at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School, where she also serves as a mentor teacher, coordinates the after-school student environmental leadership group, and helps guide Lakeland’s green school operations. A career-changer who worked many years as a science journalist, she taps her previous experiences to guide students through real-life projects that encourage rich content mastery and skills learning. She and her middle and high school students have benefited from a range of partnerships including a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for teachers grant to study city ecosystems, a Fund for Teachers grant to spend time at a Costa Rican research station, and a Baltimore Excellence in Stem Teaching grant to work for a summer in a microbiology lab. Karen graduated with a BA in Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and earned an MA in Teaching from the Johns Hopkins University, in addition to certificates in science communications and education technology.
