Nathan Fleming: Outstanding Project Lead the Way Teacher
Aug 10, 2022
Missouri teacher Nathan Fleming started teaching high school science in 2000. Teaching for the first ten years at two small rural schools, Fleming learned the value of strong student relationships and he gained experience teaching nearly every subject.
In 2010, Fleming transferred to a larger area high school, West Plains High School, and helped start their Project Lead the Way biomedical program in 2016. Two years later he partnered with the local hospital to start the annual white coat ceremony in which students receive customized lab coats while being praised in front of friends and family.
Thanks to continual presentations by Fleming and his students West Plains High School enjoys full and even competitive rosters for all biomedical PLTW classes. Thanks to agreements with a state university, 114 students have earned college credit eligibility in the past four years.
Using his professional photography background, Fleming started a Twitter feed to further promote his classes and this helped his classroom be chosen for the nation’s first live PLTW biomedical showcase in 2021. Recently Fleming has focused on creating fiercely independent student run classroom environments in which students learn and acquire the soft skills that will help them succeed in a wide variety of careers. Nathan was recently named one of 13 Project Lead the Way teachers in biomedical sciences for the 2022-2023 school year.