This week is going to be crazy! It a fantastic way but CRAZY! The schedule for parent informational meetings are as follows:
April 24th - 4-5 p.m. L.P. Waters; 5:30-6:30 p.m. Carver
April 25th - 5-6 p.m. Lamar; 6:30-7:30 p.m. Bowie
April 27th - 5-6 p.m. Crockett; 6:30-7:30 p.m. Travis
Students will be able to fill out applications at the meetings and application will be available online after the first meeting on the district website. We are working on a STEM webpage now. :)
After the last meeting each night, I will be racing to the municipal auditorium for Follies rehearsal! The show is April 28-29. Tickets are $15 for the floor and $5 for the balcony. If you are interested in going, contact me for tickets. All proceeds for this final Follies goes to the Hunt County Child Advocacy Center.
Also, there is a committee being formed to name our school! WOOO HOOO! I'll keep you updated.
Back in December when HIDDEN FIGURES came out in theaters I went to see it with a friend. (If you haven't seen this movie you HAVE to! I think I've seen it 4 times) This movie is about 3 African American women that were trailblazers at NASA in the 60s. In their movie, one of the characters was petitioning the court to allow her to attend an all white school to get the required courses to apply for an engineering position at NASA. Her words were inspiring to the judge as she said, "You of all people should understand the importance of being first" She went on to tell him all of the "firsts" the judge had achieved. He noted her research and asked the point in which she replied, "The point is no negro woman in the state of VA has ever attended an all white high school (where extension classes were offered). It's unheard of. And before Alan Shepherd sat on top ofa rocket, no other American had ever touched space. Now he will forever be remembered as the US Navy man from New Hampshire, the first to touch the stars. I, sir, plan on being an engineer at NASA. I can't do that without taking them classes at that all white high school. I can't change the color of my skin, so I have no choice but to be the first. Out of all the cases you've heard today - which one is going to matter 100 years from now? Which one will make you the first?" The judge granted her permission to attend only night classes. At that point my friend leaned over and said, "You'll be a first." I almost couldn't contain the multitude of emotions that swept over me in that moment. The huge responsibility that we are facing along with the amazing opportunity for the students of GISD is both completely exciting and scary as the unknown always is. We are risk takers - trailblazers! Embrace all of the emotions for they will drive us to amazing, uncharted waters to discover STEMtastic adventures.
Chapter 3: STEM-infusing the Elementary Classroom:
This may be one of my favorite and most important chapters in this book. At the beginning of the chapter, the author talked about creating a diagram using Popplet. I hadn't heard of this so I looked it up and did a quick tutorial. Has anyone used this platform or something similar? If so, share your experience(s).
We must always be aware of how easy it is to sacrifice rigor for relevance. Relevance is the easy part. There are plenty of "real world problems" in which to choose. "In fact, the art of strong pedagogy is finding the sweet spot where students are so engaged they embrace challenges that push them to apply their understanding at deeper level." In everything we plan for our students during the engineering hour or daily concepts, we must strive to provide a high level of rigor. We must go beyond the levels 1-3 on the Bloom's Taxonomy table found on page 25. We must look to the analyzing, evaluating, and creating areas. Also, I loved that it made a point to address technology as a piece of rigor in the lesson, not to play games and basic skills. There, of course, is a place for computer literacy. That is not what the author is talking about. We need to make sure use of technology is enhancing the experience, not giving us an extra 30 minute break while the IPads "watch" our students. :)
**Look at a lesson you taught last week. Take the Bloom's chart on page 25 and reflect at what level you prepared your lesson and the opportunity you gave your students. What could you have done to bump your teaching/learning up at least to the next level?
Also, let me know how the information in this book as changed your thoughts while lesson planning, or not.
Please respond by Thursday, April 27th.
I hope you all have an amazing week! I hope to see you at the parent meetings.
SK loves Rockets!
This past week was a good example of hitting the "creating" level of blooms. The kids had to design something to solve the question "What insects live around our school?" The kids designed and created bug traps to observe the insects in our environment at school. This was a vast difference from planning last year, where we researched and wrote about a chosen insect. This year, there was problem solving and real world application to the research. Plus the kids were more engaged.
ReplyDeleteAs far as technology, I believe that starting out, you have to definitely teach with direction and rigor when applying technology into lessons. That way, when you open a project where the students get a choice in design, they have a strong background and experience to guide them in their learning.
p.s. I LOVED LOVED LOVED Hidden Figures!!!!
I loved the bug hotels. I need to follow up with y'all to see what the kids learned from what insects visited. They were so excited about what they were doing. Yes, definitely a step up on the Bloom's scale from reading how the project evolved from one year to the next! Great job!
DeleteGood Morning,
ReplyDeleteIt is springtime and the rain is falling! I think this is already a crazy time of year for all of us, but now we have added the excitement and tension of STEM! I for one am overwhelmed (in a good way). Seeing all the parents in attendance last night at the STEM meetings at Lamar and Bowie made it all seem so real and scary! With less than a month left of school I am feeling so many mixed emotions. I am so sad to leave my current school kids and family and am at the same time so excited and comforted to be apart of this new family.
I will not be able to make the Crockett and Travis meeting, ( I know Stacey will ROCKET regardless), I will be in Atlanta, Georgia. I am going to spend two days training at the Ron Clark Academy and I am over the moon excited about this opportunity.
I have not seen Hidden Figures yet, but I am hoping to be able to watch it while I am out of town and kid free.
I agree with Stacey about Chapter 3. I always try to think about my lessons from the students point of view. Why would they want to do it and how will it help them grow. I have to admit that when the author wrote, "I have gotten excited about the overwhelming student engagement but neglected the learning outcomes." I could totally relate. My classes are engaging, my students are producing, but there have been times were I have had take a hard look at the lesson and admit I have "sacrificed rigor for relevance". I am constantly trying to find the balance and to push myself to look hard at my lessons and ask how can I take this lesson to the next level. I know that there is a place for all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and I analyze them with each lesson looking for ways the students can analyze, evaluate, and create.
This week my students finished Inherited traits and learned behavior. I had the students take a class poll on a variety of traits and behaviors.We looked at the poll of all the students and drew conclusions. Students were then ask to create their own poll in google forms with inherited traits and behaviors that they had come up with and then send it out (Seesaw) for other students to take. Students then took the information they gathered and generated conclusions based on their results. Finally, students had to create a way to represent their findings. I did not give them an example of how to present their results but instead gave them a rubric for what needed to be in the presentation. Students could chose any format they were comfortable with. They came up with some great questions. Is being able to pick things up with your toes inherited or learned? We had to look that one up.
It is apparent that in my class we use technology. Before we were one to one. I would scrounge up any device I could get my hands on. At one time I had all my families personal devices at school so that the students would have access. I have an eleven year old who has made me realize some things about technology. One it is a part of their lives whether we like it or not and two we can be consumers of technology or creators! I want my students to see the importance of using technology for creating! I am always looking for ways to help my students have resources for creating instead of consuming. Apps like popplet (I use Mindomo) help students express and create through technology. I love the idea of starting my day with a "Genius Bar". With that being said, I also agree with the author in that "we have to be careful not to allow our devices to dominate our instruction at the expense of relevance."
I hope everyone has a fantastic week!
Samantha - I love the thought of "we can be consumers or creators with technology". That is so true. I think it's easy to allow our students to only be consumers because let's be real- sometimes the teachers just need that 15 minutes! If that's all we are showing them, we are missing such great opportunities to grow our students. I am excited for everything you will be able to teach me! The Rocket staff is definitely fortunate to have you!
DeleteRigor and Relevance is the goal I am always striving for as I plan my lessons. It makes me nervous to think of planning for our new school because I haven't been in a
ReplyDeletegen-ed classroom in a while, and I don't want to fail to prepare Rigorous, Relevant lessons! I want to incorporate art, music, nature, history.... social/emotional well-being...
Preparing lessons at the top end of Blooms is what I do because of the nature of teaching TAG. I look forward to doing it in the Fall!
Bea - I know you are going to be such an amazing asset to the school community. Your expertise is vital to our commitment of raising the bar for our students academically.
DeleteCrystal- I love your bug project!
ReplyDeleteSamantha- Have fun in Geo-ow-rgia!
Everybody else. See y'all tomorrow at Crockett.
Stacey will Rocket! (: -Samantha :)ha ha
Am I the only one who has felt like this is the week that won't end?!? Man, 5 day work weeks can be a beating;) I was beyond thrilled at the turnout at the Lamar parent meeting. It was such a joy to see so many of my former students there with their parents. And personally I loved when Stacey had the slide about 'you might be a stem kid if...'. The entire time that was up my daughter, Emma Cate, kept saying 'yep, that's me! oh yeah, me too!'. Afterwards she said "Mom, I am definitely a STEM kid!". Pretty sweet to come full circle with my own kiddo:)
ReplyDeleteMy 2nd graders this year are not lovers of writing. But I am can also see (after reading through this chapter) that maybe I am choosing rigor over relevance when it comes to their writing. This week we did an activity where the students used the QR reader on their iPad, went around to certain stops in my classroom to find QR codes. Each code had a 'secret writing prompt'. The students were asked to find a QR code, read the prompt, go back and write 3-4 sentences on that prompt. Do this 3 times. The prompts varied from short to long, open-ended, series and silly. Boy did they enjoy the variety and freedom! I think I could have definitely stepped it up by having them then create their own QR code with their own prompt embedded. Maybe we will attempt that today!
And to echo off of Samantha, my emotions are really all over the place with moving, change, end of year chaos, etc. But the excitement is there! Looking forward to this new adventure!! Have a Fantastic Friday!
Paige - I think your sweet Emma's words melted my heart as much as yours. I love, love the QR codes for writing. It's something different, yet still challenging. I also love your thoughts of them creating their own QR code. Reflection is so important at any stage, but definitely as we move from a traditional classroom to a STEM classroom. You're going to be AWESOME!
DeleteSadly, I’ve had the worst stomach virus ALL week long so I was unable to make it to any of the parent meetings ☹ I can’t wait to hear all about them though, as I’m sure it was amazing! I agree with what most everyone else said. It has been hard to find a balance between rigor and relevance. I tend to lean more on relevance and what my students will find purpose in and be actively engaged in to create those memories, and sometimes that results in a sacrifice of the rigor.
ReplyDeleteOne of our recent lessons was over 3-D shapes. The students decided in groups what shapes they wanted to build, based on the ones we had been focusing on. Once they chose their shape they began building it with toothpicks and gum drops. As they were building their shapes, they were documenting their design process using padlet. They were able to take pictures and write about the steps they took to build it. We then dipped their shape in a bucket of soapy water and when the shape came out bubbles formed the faces of the shape. We took pictures of their shape after being dipped and students used padlet again to document their findings. The students were actively engaged and were eager to see what would happen to their shape when dipped, as well as wanting to see what the other groups were finding. They loved using padlet to document their activities and enjoyed reading what other students were posting. To bump it up, I could have had students research and make predictions on what they think will happen if the shape goes into the soapy water, or research which materials they think would be best to make this happen. I could have given choices for them to present their findings, such as padlet, paper slide video, or a collage app.
I also love the idea of the “Genius Bar” that the book mentions. I think that is a great beginning of the day to make sure students are being taught digital literacy.
Chan - Carver has definitely missed you this week, but I hope you are on the mend. I think we all have sacrificed rigor for relevance especially in our early days of teaching. So know that you are NOT alone! I love that you are thinking and reflecting and that is so important. Thanks for taking time to respond even when you felt so so bad! I can't wait to see what amazing things you are able to accomplish to finish Carver Strong and then blast off in Rocket nation!
DeleteI am the first to say that my lessons don't always have enough rigor as I expected them too. But as I go, I take notes, learn from the mistakes and find ways to improve it for the next time. Infusing STEM into my classroom this year has done that for me. This last week we talked about For e and Motion. im my class we have interactive notebooks that we create all year long. I told my students that by the end of the week we were going to see if we could move a beachball to knock over plastic cups without touching it. My kids couldn't believe that it could be done. We talked about lush and pull and demonstrated what that looked like. On Thursday I split my friends into 4 different groups to brainstorm the different ways that they could move the beachball. Once we came back together they had to choose a spokesman to share their groups ideas. We created a chart for all to see. I showed the class what the beachball looked like and some of the materials they had mentioned they thought they needed. Each group had to find a way to fan the ball and build some sort of ramp. On Friday the entire kindergarten class got out into the hallway in their groups and immediately started creating their fans and ramps. They were collaborating and being creative in their designs! I was really very impressed. Students were able to explain why their design didn't work and how they could improve it and tried again! The correct vocabulary was being used! It made my teacher heart very happy to see!! I can't wait to be able to jump in from the get go and really see all the growth that students will make with early exposure!
ReplyDeleteVanessa - I love this so much! I could just envision the kids faces through discovery! Great job! I'm so excited you are part of the ROCKET team!
DeleteWell I entered my post Thursday night from my phone but I guess it didn't go through...I'll see if I can remember what I said.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Stacey, you did an awesome job with your presentation at LPW! There has been a lot of discussion and questions here since then and I'll need to discuss that with you sometime soon. :)
Also, I think I told you to break a leg at the Follies and I wished I could've been there to see you! I know you were great and I hope you had fun! :)
Rigor and relevance in Pre-K...I'm sure that looks a lot different from the rest of your classrooms but we've got it going on! :) But I guess at the very basic level at this age it is asking open ended questions ALL THE TIME, giving them time to think (it doesn't come too quickly sometimes at this age), giving them time for hands-on exploration and discovery, giving them time even to fail forward and adjust, and being there along side them to engage their thinking with those open ended questions. So many try to rush them through activities just to get them done instead of doing them to really learn something from them (relevance). We have different STEM kits that we explore in STEM lab each week and I love watching them and listening to their conversations with each other. I'll walk around and ask them things like "What are you building?", "Why did you choose to build it like that?", "What's it going to be used for?", "Did you think about trying...?" etc. And of course, all efforts are praised!!! :)
And as far as relevance, I'm always asking questions like "Why do we need to know this?", "How can this help us?", "Why is this important?", etc. I also reinforce concepts being taught in the curriculum in our centers so it does seem more relevant to them.
Also, it's soooo important to know our kids because some of them are ready for more rigor than others and we can provide that to them with more challenges...
I like your questions to the students!! It really gets them thinking and defending their position.
DeleteVickie-
DeleteI agree with your statement about how important it is to know your kids. Some kids are just naturally ready to step up the rigor, while other may take a little more coaxing. Having that relationship with your students is key in getting the best performance in the classroom from them.
Vickie - your natural ability to understand what your students need is the art of teaching at its finest. I absolutely can't wait to get all of these great minds in one building and get started! Y'all excite me for this journey every day!
DeleteChapter 3 Rigor meets Relevance
ReplyDeleteYes, this chapter is a very important chapter in guiding us to “gritty” teaching. I am not familiar with Popplet, but will explore so that I will have it available in my teacher tool bag.
Using technology needs to be purposeful and engaging. This is an area where I plan to do some more researching and experimenting. Sometimes, I steer away from technology because I feel that my technology options are not rigorous enough for the students.
I felt valid in my teaching practice when I read that an “important consideration when developing rigorous lessons is setting the strong objectives from the beginning.” I really like the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy chart as it adds concrete examples. I also enjoyed reading about the Daggett’s Levels of Relevance. I will refer to these when planning future lessons.
This week, my students built pasta rovers and ramps to test force in motion. Building and rebuilding their rovers gave them the hands on opportunity to see what works and how to improve their rovers. The experience was meaningful as it connected to the topics of gravity and force and reviewing them for the upcoming Science test. Student had to set up a challenge to measure the speed or distance and the relationship of gravity and force had on their rover. We related the challenge to real world car manufacturing companies. Student had to make a claim and support their claim with evidence and reasons why they designed their rovers in the manner that they did. I think the lesson established the relevance of why this project was important; however, after personal reflection about the lesson I think that more rigor could have been place into the process. As mention above, expectations and objectives were stated at the beginning of the project. Time was a limiting factor. I should have given students more time to analyze, evaluate, synthesize and communication about each others’ pasta rover designs.
I think we as teachers fight the "time factor" all the time. I find myself sometime hurrying them through the most important part because I've spent so much time on the set up.
DeleteTime is hard to balance. Each part of the process is important and time management is key and the hardest part! I love all of the personal reflection that happens throughout the weeks in this blog. I love that everyone seems to safe and free to share their awesomeness and where they need to improve. That is the character of the best teachers! So proud of the reflections you share, Diana!
DeleteLast week was amazing! I loved visiting the schools and sharing the excitement with the parents and students about the new STEM school. I am so excited I can't even stand it!
ReplyDeleteRigor meets Relevance--
My enrichment classes are reading the novel, From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. This novel is about two siblings who run away to the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art. They hide out in the museum for a couple of weeks and explore all sorts of famous artwork. Well, the NY Met has a fabulous website with a section devoted especially to school aged children, so I wanted the kiddos to be able to experience this great website. I created a webquest for them to complete where they had to go on a sort of scavenger hunt for certain pieces of art and describe the pieces in detail, answer some questions about the artist, and watch a video about the piece. I must say that the webquest was a hit and I was feeling pretty good about the whole lesson. I loved how they were discussing art and artists that they had never even heard of before....and they were enjoying it. After the lesson was complete one of the students raised their hand and said the following, "Mrs. McGee, you know, you should have let us create one of these for each other." See, in my search for creating a perfect lesson, I took the higher order thinking of "creating" of their hands and did it myself. I learned a great lesson that day from my students! I must never forget that if WE set the bar high, the students will rise up to that bar, and sometimes, they even leap over it!
How this makes my heart happy! We forget how capable our students are if we just let them go. This is what this next year of discovery will all be about! This is why I wanted us to start looking at things we are doing now to see what kinds of shift the adults need to do to prepare for the world we are about to step into. It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I'm so grateful for the people who jumped at taking this journey with me!
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