Susan Diaz: An Undercover Educator at The Tech

Susan Diaz, a social studies, digital media, and computer science teacher at George V. LeyVa Middle School, attended our professional development programs and roamed exhibits to gather information incognito - at least until The Tech staff began to recognize that she was more in cahoots with them than the typical teacher participant.

Susan came to The Tech through the Summer Fellowship Program at Ignited, an established Bay Area nonprofit that places teachers in industry for eight weeks over the summer, and coaches them to translate the experience back to the classroom. Agilent, an analytical lab solutions company with a long-standing partnership with both The Tech and Ignited, funded the Susan’s fellowship to build students’ durable skills and awareness of career paths. 

Her not-so-secret project for the summer was to audit The Tech's educator offerings, gathering data from educators to test our assumptions about the efficacy of our methods and tools.

“Susan embodied the ‘curious educator’ that we are always aiming to reach, and gave us a tangible picture of the struggles and interests along the educator’s user journey,” says Sherry Burch, The Tech's Senior Director of Learning Products and  Susan’s mentor for the summer.

During her time at The Tech, Susan supported professional development in a variety of formats: on-site, off-site, single-session, multi-day, and with in-school and out-of-school audiences. Participating alongside other teachers, she asked thoughtful questions that expanded the other teachers’ understanding of the subject, while also giving our team insight into the types of questions that were most helpful for our teachers. 

Additionally, Susan contributed to content and exhibit development conversations, and she was wildly successful in redesigning a teacher survey that previously had a low response rate, receiving over 100 responses.

As our team at The Tech begins implementing Susan’s suggestions around improving information for visiting and curious educators, Susan is bringing changes to her classroom too.

Pulling from the Tech’s design challenge approach to teaching and learning, Susan developed a lesson plan in which student teams will research real-world digital threats and protections, and then prototype an interactive presentation or exhibit to provide hands-on, educational experiences for their community.

“My summer fellowship at The Tech didn’t just inspire me, it fundamentally shifted how I teach. Having seen firsthand how teamwork, creative problem solving, and iteration can turn rough ideas into powerful outcomes, I’m excited to guide my students in developing these same skills, skills that are fundamental for their future career success.”

Our team built a relationship of trust and respect with Susan over the summer, and we are thrilled that our educators will benefit from the improvements she implemented. 

Check out our educator resources for yourself, and don't forget to register for our upcoming field trip opportunity!