NOAA Teacher at Sea
Martin McClure
NOAA Ship Oregon II
July 25– August 9, 2023
Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Bottom Longline Survey
Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean
Date: July 19, 2023
TAS ’23 Martin McClure
My name is Martin McClure and I am thrilled to have been selected as a Teacher At Sea and to be headed to the NOAA Ship Oregon II! We will be embarking from Pascagoula, Mississippi on July 25th and disembarking at Port Canaveral, Florida on August 9.
I teach third grade at Nokomis Elementary, The Greatest School In The Universe, in Ukiah, California. Ukiah is a thriving metropolis of about 17,000 people located about 2 hours north of San Francisco. The economy of our beautiful community is primarily agricultural and tourism based. We are known for pears, wine, and redwoods. The coast of Mendocino county is about an hour away, through the redwoods, and features beautiful cliffs, beaches and even the Lost Coast.
I grew up I n South Florida fishing in the mangroves and flats of the Everglades, Florida Bay, the Keys and Biscayne Bay so this is a bit of a return home for me. This will, however, be a very different endeavor. I look forward to being part of a science team collecting data. I want to learn about the sharks and other fish that we catch. I look forward to meeting and working with a variety of people from different professional backgrounds and regions.
I recently completed my 25th year of teaching as a classroom teacher and it has been quite a journey. I have taught grades K-6th and have enjoyed different aspects of each of them. Before becoming a classroom teacher, I taught English in Taiwan and traveled in China, Tibet, and Japan as well as working in schools in Philadelphia. Because I see how my own enthusiasm helps my students to connect with whatever I am teaching, I integrate my own interest in science, nature and the outdoors. The best that I can bring to my students is what I know and love. Through the Teacher At Sea program, I look forward to expanding my experiences and knowledge about applied science and careers at sea so that I can better bring the world of science to my students.
New Terms: Forward is a nautical directional term referring to the bow at the front of the ship while aft refers to the stern at the back of the ship.
