Week 3 (6664): Effecting Change at School and District Levels

During one of our faculty meetings, I stated that we need to hold each grade level accountable for their science curriculum even though they are not assessed during standardized tests. The reason for this request was because from hearing from students, staff children and teachers; science was not being taught everyday. In addition, according to Dr. Harris “telling is not teaching”(Laureate Education Inc., 2008). Therefore, when students reach the fifth grade and they are held accountable for what they learn in each topic they are surprised on how much information they have to memorize, and that they cannot use the textbook. Otherwise, students sit in a classroom and nod without comprehending the content. At this point, administration has changed the curriculum, where science is taught during reading time in grades one to four, but they are still not using hands-on lessons. Luckily, there are a few teachers that feel comfortable with science and do include a few inquiry lessons into the curriculum. Furthermore, more science materials are available in the library to check out than every before. In addition, I have shared with colleagues that applying for a grant through donorschoose.org was not a difficult process and the discovery box resources have been very helpful to students of all grave levels.



In the future, I plan to join both the County Council of Math and Science Teachers (CCMST) and the math and science professional learning community (PLC). During the CCMST discussion members can make suggestions or changes to the curriculum and assessments. Furthermore, I continue to share resources with my PLC (grade level) colleagues (Heirdsfield, Lamb, & Spry, 2010). Including books, foldable, project ideas, experiment supplies, as well as offer to collaborate teachers in other grade levels, where my students can teach another class a skill or concept.

Time, money, and lack of enthusiasm from some of my colleagues have been a challenge. Being the teachers with the least experience I look forward to working and learning from my co-workers, but they look at as “another thing they have to do.” Therefore, unfortunately we all teach science in a different order. Hopefully, with the new textbook adoption; the curriculum will be more regulated. Furthermore, providing opportunities for students to join after school activities like a science club or problem solvers would allow those students that have an interest in science to develop further curiosities. Possibly opening up such activities to parents, where they could come in and have their children explain what they have been working on in any given STEM project (Somers, 2010).


Lastly, during professional development I raised the issue of using “EQ walls” during assessments. Many teachers agree with that Essential Question bulletin boards are a great tool for both teacher and students for all subject areas. It is a designated wall space where information (vocabulary, formulas, main ideas, diagrams) is displayed. However, some teachers leave the information up during assessment, which prevents students from choosing to study. Moreover, I always go back to the setting of the classroom during standardized tests where everything “educational” has to be removed from the classroom. When this issue was discussed no conclusion was reached. Does anyone else use Learning-Focused, what do you do with your EQ wall?

References:

Heirdsfield, A., Lamb, J., & Spry, G. (2010). Leading Learning within a PLC: Implementing new Mathematics content. Montana Mathematics Enthusiast, 7(1), 93-111. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Establishing Procedures to Support Classroom Management [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

Somers, B. (2010, April 2). Despite gains, obstacles still exist for diversity in STEM education, says AAAS’s Shirley Malcom. AAAS News Archive. Retrieved from http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2010/0402malcom_testify.shtml