I haven't posted in awhile. Blogs probably don't want to hear of all my self-doubt and struggles to understand how to do my best here when I've been somewhere 28 years and feeling like I knew what I was doing most of the time.
I've been working on preparing two workshops; one for EIE kits and one for Ideas and Inventions. I have been trying to get to my Grant Sites. They aren't all meeting yet, but next month I expect that those that aren't up and running will be, so I should be able to complete my rounds. So far I've visited Hills, Prairie Creek, Lemme, Wood, Mount Vernon, Hiawatha and Vernon Schools. There is a round of kit trainings coming up in January, which may prevent me from getting to as many as I'd like, but after that I would love to make being at the schools my top priority. I want to help the sites add some career components to their activities, and see what other suggestions I can make for resources. I don't want to merely take up space in this job...I will never be satisfied until I feel that I have contributed something....and I'm working hard to try to get there.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
December 8, 2010
This morning I had a meeting with Erica to plan for the CSI meeting tonight and for the UNI meeting tomorrow. Erica showed me some of the Iowa STEM Strategic Plan Roadmap so we would be prepared for the meeting.
AGENDA, Dec. 9, Alumni Suite, McLeod Center, UNI
Engineering Education for Iowa? Preliminary forum
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION-
--Framework for engineering education at various levels. How do
existing programs like PLTW fit into the K-12 format? What frameworks
are in existence now and how are they working? What support from
partners do we need to pull this off?
My goal as a STEM Teacher in Residence has been to increase STEM experiences for students, especially those in minority, female, and low socio-economic populations, and to increase awareness in STEM activities. I have worked hard to increase my knowledge of the EIE kits (Engineering is Elementary) and to help the Grant Sites understand the role those can play in their out of school programs. I have also tried to make teachers and leaders more aware of them for 'during' school opportunities. As for the Career Education, I have been collecting websites and connecting teachers to those websites. Most teachers I talk to are in favor of showing a quick video clip (some are around 2 minutes long) at the beginning of their activities. I have posted information for EIE kits and STEM Career Video Clips on the CSI Stem Educator's Website.
AGENDA, Dec. 9, Alumni Suite, McLeod Center, UNI
Engineering Education for Iowa? Preliminary forum
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION-
--Framework for engineering education at various levels. How do
existing programs like PLTW fit into the K-12 format? What frameworks
are in existence now and how are they working? What support from
partners do we need to pull this off?
My goal as a STEM Teacher in Residence has been to increase STEM experiences for students, especially those in minority, female, and low socio-economic populations, and to increase awareness in STEM activities. I have worked hard to increase my knowledge of the EIE kits (Engineering is Elementary) and to help the Grant Sites understand the role those can play in their out of school programs. I have also tried to make teachers and leaders more aware of them for 'during' school opportunities. As for the Career Education, I have been collecting websites and connecting teachers to those websites. Most teachers I talk to are in favor of showing a quick video clip (some are around 2 minutes long) at the beginning of their activities. I have posted information for EIE kits and STEM Career Video Clips on the CSI Stem Educator's Website.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
December 7, 2010
Yesterday I met with Mary and Carol, who wanted to have some way that I would be in charge of the check-out for the EIE kits. We set this meeting up last week so that we could coordinate how I could do that and communicate with them so that they could have the kits ready. I was working on how I would propose that could be done, and came up with the idea of a Google Form. I put this together Friday, and ran it by them, and they thought it was a perfect idea for a way that we could all have access to the information. I also like the way that it gathers the information they need and organizes it, which should make this all very efficient. I showed them the form and asked for input. We tweaked the form by taking out a few kits that they said weren't available yet, and added Deb Johnson to the 'share' list, since she would be collecting the purchase orders sent in.
After our meeting I joined a kit training. It happened to be taught by Lori Kriz, a former Teacher-in-Residence, which was fun for me, and also attended by two Mount Vernon teachers. This kit was Plant Growth and Development. I was especially impressed with Lori's content knowledge. It was just the way I like a trainer to be; she knew far more than she had to know, so that when questions came up she could go into detail. It was obvious that she knew her stuff. I really, really enjoyed listening to her. I was impressed by the kit. I was so surprised that we got real (dead) bees to glue onto sticks to pollinate our flowers!! Wow!!!
I left just a little early because I had a meeting with DeAnn Scearce in Mount Vernon. I met with her to find out which EIE kit she decided on. I had left a few manuals with her to look at. She chose Catching the Wind. I gave her the option of training with me as we went or going to our official training on January 12th, and she thought it would be fun to go to the training, so that's what we decided. I asked the principal if that would be ok, and he said it was. I collected the EIE manuals and touched base with a few teachers.
Today I went to 6th Street to make a calendar of the kit trainings. I put them on a Google Calendar of their own, and answered a couple of e-mails. Then I went to 33rd Avenue and attended a kit training called Structures of Life. This kit training was frustrating for me. They were frustrated because it took them an hour and a half for the technology to work. The trainer had a Power Point on Office 2007, and it wouldn't work on the laptops because they were 2003. Candace evidently went to 6th Street and got one that had the 2007 on it, and they weren't quite over that when some packets they thought would be run off weren't run off. Candace felt that everything that should be run off was in the box, and they didn't think it was, and so I spent my lunch time trying to fix that issue (long story...I had to take a jump drive and put it into a computer that was hooked up to a printer in the building, but since it wouldn't open the 2007 I had to first do a screen shot of each page and paste them into a compatible program so that they could be open in the other computer so they could be opened and printed...then more complicated things happened but we won't go into that). I gave them the papers, and the trainer was frustrated with 'Grant Wood', which was ME, so it wasn't very fun.
I had a meeting with Susan Maurice at 3, so I left in time to get there and met with Susan. She didn't know about the EIE kits, and was thinking of doing some engineering with her STEM Grant activities, so I went over what kits we had with her. She sounds interested in the Maglev System Design, so she said she'd come to the kit training on the 12th, and is going to give that one a shot. I showed her where I had posted STEM career video clips, and she was interested in using those. She had not yet begun recruiting, so we went over the class lists and I made some suggestions. It was good to meet with her, and I got lots of hugs from kids, which helped me recover from the sour kit training.
After our meeting I joined a kit training. It happened to be taught by Lori Kriz, a former Teacher-in-Residence, which was fun for me, and also attended by two Mount Vernon teachers. This kit was Plant Growth and Development. I was especially impressed with Lori's content knowledge. It was just the way I like a trainer to be; she knew far more than she had to know, so that when questions came up she could go into detail. It was obvious that she knew her stuff. I really, really enjoyed listening to her. I was impressed by the kit. I was so surprised that we got real (dead) bees to glue onto sticks to pollinate our flowers!! Wow!!!
I left just a little early because I had a meeting with DeAnn Scearce in Mount Vernon. I met with her to find out which EIE kit she decided on. I had left a few manuals with her to look at. She chose Catching the Wind. I gave her the option of training with me as we went or going to our official training on January 12th, and she thought it would be fun to go to the training, so that's what we decided. I asked the principal if that would be ok, and he said it was. I collected the EIE manuals and touched base with a few teachers.
Today I went to 6th Street to make a calendar of the kit trainings. I put them on a Google Calendar of their own, and answered a couple of e-mails. Then I went to 33rd Avenue and attended a kit training called Structures of Life. This kit training was frustrating for me. They were frustrated because it took them an hour and a half for the technology to work. The trainer had a Power Point on Office 2007, and it wouldn't work on the laptops because they were 2003. Candace evidently went to 6th Street and got one that had the 2007 on it, and they weren't quite over that when some packets they thought would be run off weren't run off. Candace felt that everything that should be run off was in the box, and they didn't think it was, and so I spent my lunch time trying to fix that issue (long story...I had to take a jump drive and put it into a computer that was hooked up to a printer in the building, but since it wouldn't open the 2007 I had to first do a screen shot of each page and paste them into a compatible program so that they could be open in the other computer so they could be opened and printed...then more complicated things happened but we won't go into that). I gave them the papers, and the trainer was frustrated with 'Grant Wood', which was ME, so it wasn't very fun.
I had a meeting with Susan Maurice at 3, so I left in time to get there and met with Susan. She didn't know about the EIE kits, and was thinking of doing some engineering with her STEM Grant activities, so I went over what kits we had with her. She sounds interested in the Maglev System Design, so she said she'd come to the kit training on the 12th, and is going to give that one a shot. I showed her where I had posted STEM career video clips, and she was interested in using those. She had not yet begun recruiting, so we went over the class lists and I made some suggestions. It was good to meet with her, and I got lots of hugs from kids, which helped me recover from the sour kit training.
Friday, December 3, 2010
December 3, 2010
Today I worked most of the day on the CSI-OSO Website.
https://sites.google.com/site/csioutofschoolprograms/
I met with Jim this morning, and we talked a lot about the website. He liked what I was doing with it. He told me that he'd like to go with me to go see the Grant Site programs in action, so that will be fun to go with him and see his perspective.
I had another request to help a Mount Vernon teacher with the math program, so I will make a time to help her out. Unfortunately I was pretty much the only one using the computer program for data collection and assessment so I need to get them on their feet so they can use it. I think it's really valuable in order to do formative assessment (as well as summative) and the parents really liked it a lot because they could see how their kids were doing from home. This is a link to a couple of videos I made for the parents explaining the computer program: http://www.mountvernon.k12.ia.us/teachertools/newsletters/ArticleList.php?NewsID=100883
https://sites.google.com/site/csioutofschoolprograms/
I met with Jim this morning, and we talked a lot about the website. He liked what I was doing with it. He told me that he'd like to go with me to go see the Grant Site programs in action, so that will be fun to go with him and see his perspective.
I had another request to help a Mount Vernon teacher with the math program, so I will make a time to help her out. Unfortunately I was pretty much the only one using the computer program for data collection and assessment so I need to get them on their feet so they can use it. I think it's really valuable in order to do formative assessment (as well as summative) and the parents really liked it a lot because they could see how their kids were doing from home. This is a link to a couple of videos I made for the parents explaining the computer program: http://www.mountvernon.k12.ia.us/teachertools/newsletters/ArticleList.php?NewsID=100883
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December 1, 2010
This week I've been to 3 schools. I went to Hills on Monday in Hills, Iowa. This school, I am told, had over 70 percent population on free and reduced lunch, which gave them a 21st century grant, as I understand it. They used some of the money to put Smart Boards in every classroom, and the computer lab had a Smart Board in the front plus a Smart Table (which I had never heard of). The STEM kids were in the lab after school. There were 7 kids with a teacher and the librarian's secretary (who knew a lot about Smart Boards) co-teaching. The kids were working in pairs on making games using Smart Board technology.
The built the games on their computers, and then put them up on the Smart Board to play them as a class when they were all done. One group made a game using Sponge Bob Squarepants. They drew the game board, and used the characters from Sponge Bob to decorate it and for the game pieces. When it was time to play the game, the players (the other kids in the class) could touch the die on the Smart Board, which would roll, and then they could touch the character and move it on the game board by touching the Smart Board. Another game was made with the Harry Potter theme, and it was a game show type game with multiple choice questions about Harry Potter. The cool thing was that there was a set of responders that the class would get so we (yes, I played too) could choose which answer by pushing the appropriate button on the responder. The responders were numbered, so at the end it would tell how many percent we got correct (and we could tell it was our scores by the numbers on our responders). There was one more game, but I went down to see the Lego League while they played that. The Lego League at Hills isn't paid for by STEM money, but I wanted to know how it worked, so I asked if I could see it. The teacher in there was very helpful in explaining it to me (and I fell in love with the little robot's face!!!).
On Tuesday I went to Hiawatha's Space Fliers program. This was a room filled with 30 kids. They were eating cupcakes and drinking pop (which wouldn't be allowed in MV, but I know things are different in different schools). There were two teachers, who had both been to space camp, and were very young and excited about their topic, which I loved seeing. They showed several video clips of space launches. As the video clips were playing, I whispered an idea or two to one of the teachers. The altitude is posted along with the seconds in to the launch, and I was thinking it would be really great to pause that every once in awhile and plot those on a graph watching how they related, and then again with velocity. I also asked her if she'd be willing to play a STEM career video clip if I shared with her some links to clips. I'd love to see each site play a different career video clip at the start of each session. They aren't more than 2 minutes, and it would expose them to more STEM careers. Today I sent those links to them and also made a graph template for them to use if they wanted to. I also made a suggestion that they could make a movie of their 'playacting' a simulation. I've done this before, making it look like the kids were in a place they were pretending to be. I told them I could help make a movie if they wanted to.
Today I went to Mount Vernon. Jessica had e-mailed me asking for help with the computer program that goes with the MV math curriculum. It has an amazing program that tracks skills mastered and even gives remedial activities which enables the teacher to keep progress documented. The kids can access their assignments from home, too, as well as having activities they can do that correspond to the units. Parents can see exact problems that were missed on tests, and they appreciate being able to do that. Jessica has been on maternity leave and just got back this week, so she hadn't used it since I've been gone (and as far as I know, no one else uses it). I'm really glad she has the will to figure it out.
We got her problem figured out and I was able to go down to the office and say 'hello' to everyone. It was nice to see them!
The built the games on their computers, and then put them up on the Smart Board to play them as a class when they were all done. One group made a game using Sponge Bob Squarepants. They drew the game board, and used the characters from Sponge Bob to decorate it and for the game pieces. When it was time to play the game, the players (the other kids in the class) could touch the die on the Smart Board, which would roll, and then they could touch the character and move it on the game board by touching the Smart Board. Another game was made with the Harry Potter theme, and it was a game show type game with multiple choice questions about Harry Potter. The cool thing was that there was a set of responders that the class would get so we (yes, I played too) could choose which answer by pushing the appropriate button on the responder. The responders were numbered, so at the end it would tell how many percent we got correct (and we could tell it was our scores by the numbers on our responders). There was one more game, but I went down to see the Lego League while they played that. The Lego League at Hills isn't paid for by STEM money, but I wanted to know how it worked, so I asked if I could see it. The teacher in there was very helpful in explaining it to me (and I fell in love with the little robot's face!!!).
On Tuesday I went to Hiawatha's Space Fliers program. This was a room filled with 30 kids. They were eating cupcakes and drinking pop (which wouldn't be allowed in MV, but I know things are different in different schools). There were two teachers, who had both been to space camp, and were very young and excited about their topic, which I loved seeing. They showed several video clips of space launches. As the video clips were playing, I whispered an idea or two to one of the teachers. The altitude is posted along with the seconds in to the launch, and I was thinking it would be really great to pause that every once in awhile and plot those on a graph watching how they related, and then again with velocity. I also asked her if she'd be willing to play a STEM career video clip if I shared with her some links to clips. I'd love to see each site play a different career video clip at the start of each session. They aren't more than 2 minutes, and it would expose them to more STEM careers. Today I sent those links to them and also made a graph template for them to use if they wanted to. I also made a suggestion that they could make a movie of their 'playacting' a simulation. I've done this before, making it look like the kids were in a place they were pretending to be. I told them I could help make a movie if they wanted to.
Today I went to Mount Vernon. Jessica had e-mailed me asking for help with the computer program that goes with the MV math curriculum. It has an amazing program that tracks skills mastered and even gives remedial activities which enables the teacher to keep progress documented. The kids can access their assignments from home, too, as well as having activities they can do that correspond to the units. Parents can see exact problems that were missed on tests, and they appreciate being able to do that. Jessica has been on maternity leave and just got back this week, so she hadn't used it since I've been gone (and as far as I know, no one else uses it). I'm really glad she has the will to figure it out.
We got her problem figured out and I was able to go down to the office and say 'hello' to everyone. It was nice to see them!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
November 24, 2010
Yesterday the building was pretty empty at Grant Wood. I worked on collecting STEM career video clips. I am going to do my best to make it easy for the Grant Sites to show a couple of career clips a week in order to expose the students to as many STEM careers as possible. I want to put a screen shot of a couple of websites on the CSI Grant Recipients' resource website, but I don't know if I can legally do that, so I wrote to Stacy Beimer and I'm waiting for a response on that question. I also worked on a way to explain the 'Catching the Wind' EIE kit, since I have the Braille school getting ready to use it and also the ELP in Mt. Vernon. I made some Power Point slides that feature the elements of the kit and the elements of all EIE kits. We'll have to do some EIE kit training, so I was killing two birds with one stone as I became more familiar with the whole kit (we had done part of it for the U.S.A. Science Expo, and may be able to use some of what I did for that. Erica seemed willing to help with this, so I'm hoping we can plan that soon.
Today I worked on the Grant Recipients' website, and then met with one of the teachers in Mount Vernon who wanted help with the Invention Fair. I told her that I'd be willing to help with support for the students who don't have help at home in planning inventions, with a little after school club. She wanted to have her kids plan the Invention Fair and have them advertise too, so I helped her with the details she'd need to know to plan and execute it. This is a non-competitive event that I've run for many years. I suggested that she might want to apply for a STEM grant next year, too, with her interest in after school science. I showed her the EIE kit list, and we talked about how that might fit in. I had worked Monday on a list of links for STEM related topics, and one of my lists was links on inventions, and I will be sharing that with her also, because she asked for videos that might help spark interest and curiosity. I look forward to working with her on this even more, and I told her I could come help if she had an after school group of kids (that didn't have support at home to do an invention project).
Today I worked on the Grant Recipients' website, and then met with one of the teachers in Mount Vernon who wanted help with the Invention Fair. I told her that I'd be willing to help with support for the students who don't have help at home in planning inventions, with a little after school club. She wanted to have her kids plan the Invention Fair and have them advertise too, so I helped her with the details she'd need to know to plan and execute it. This is a non-competitive event that I've run for many years. I suggested that she might want to apply for a STEM grant next year, too, with her interest in after school science. I showed her the EIE kit list, and we talked about how that might fit in. I had worked Monday on a list of links for STEM related topics, and one of my lists was links on inventions, and I will be sharing that with her also, because she asked for videos that might help spark interest and curiosity. I look forward to working with her on this even more, and I told her I could come help if she had an after school group of kids (that didn't have support at home to do an invention project).
Monday, November 22, 2010
November 22, 2010
Today I've been working in the office. The schools are busy with conferences or vacations, and there aren't many people in the building at all here at the AEA either.
I spent the morning working in Teacher's Domain. Erica and Jeanne had both mentioned that I should get to know the site, so I put that on my list of tuhings to do, and finally got to it today. I went through all of the science resources and watched many videos, both to learn about things myself as well as to know what I could use them for and recommend them for. I was struck by how many resources there were on building bridges, and also delighted to see how many were on inventing. I gathered the links on a document so I can refer to them quickly.
My afternoon was spent working on the plans for the Braille school, as well as learning the EIE kit 'Catching the Wind' better (at the same time), Our theme will be 'Renewable Energy', and one day will be spent on wind energy. It occurred to me that these kids will have never 'seen' a windmill, so I called the windmill museum that I had visited in Indiana to see how much their windmill models cost, but they are closed. They should be open tomorrow, so I'll try again. Then I found a wind turbine model and e-mailed that info to Sara Larkin so she could order it if she so desired. Where we can show most kids pictures of these things, these kids won't have a clue what we're talking about, and it is rather silly to design something that you've got no experience with. I'm also working to convert the assessments to braille questions that they can respond to in their journals. Though we've done the windmill activity at the science expo, we didn't go through the EIE unit in the usual way, which I am learning about today.
I spent the morning working in Teacher's Domain. Erica and Jeanne had both mentioned that I should get to know the site, so I put that on my list of tuhings to do, and finally got to it today. I went through all of the science resources and watched many videos, both to learn about things myself as well as to know what I could use them for and recommend them for. I was struck by how many resources there were on building bridges, and also delighted to see how many were on inventing. I gathered the links on a document so I can refer to them quickly.
My afternoon was spent working on the plans for the Braille school, as well as learning the EIE kit 'Catching the Wind' better (at the same time), Our theme will be 'Renewable Energy', and one day will be spent on wind energy. It occurred to me that these kids will have never 'seen' a windmill, so I called the windmill museum that I had visited in Indiana to see how much their windmill models cost, but they are closed. They should be open tomorrow, so I'll try again. Then I found a wind turbine model and e-mailed that info to Sara Larkin so she could order it if she so desired. Where we can show most kids pictures of these things, these kids won't have a clue what we're talking about, and it is rather silly to design something that you've got no experience with. I'm also working to convert the assessments to braille questions that they can respond to in their journals. Though we've done the windmill activity at the science expo, we didn't go through the EIE unit in the usual way, which I am learning about today.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
November 19, 2010
Today I attended a meeting on a grant proposal down in the board room, and I went to Lemme in Iowa City to meet with Lisa Hall.
I learned a lot at the grant meeting about what goes into a grant. I also learned about how much Grant Wood is losing by Jeanne retiring. What an amazing person.
I was going to be meeting with Jeanne, but the grant meeting went too long and I had to drive to Iowa City, so our meeting got canceled. I went to Iowa City and found Lemme, thanks to my GPS. What an amazing room Lisa has! I am SO taking my camera next time I go! She had old ugly lockers in her room so she painted them with blackboard paint and the kids got to draw in white chalk on them. She had two or three steamer trunks painted black opened up with books to read displayed cleverly; one setting had a Halloween scene. She had an old reading table, so her obviously talented daughter drew a mural on it. She had old ugly metal chairs so she painted each one a different bright color (which looked great with the blackboard lockers).
She told me about all of her after school programs. My word! This woman is a saint! I asked her which ones she could most use my help with, and she said the 'family nights', so I put those on my calendar as a priority. Some of the parents don't speak English, and she needs more help because the parents end up liking to learn from the activities too, so she has fewer helping hands. I am excited about helping such an amazing teacher!
I'm hoping to get to several schools every week. That's what my job is for, and I want to keep my focus on the schools.
I learned a lot at the grant meeting about what goes into a grant. I also learned about how much Grant Wood is losing by Jeanne retiring. What an amazing person.
I was going to be meeting with Jeanne, but the grant meeting went too long and I had to drive to Iowa City, so our meeting got canceled. I went to Iowa City and found Lemme, thanks to my GPS. What an amazing room Lisa has! I am SO taking my camera next time I go! She had old ugly lockers in her room so she painted them with blackboard paint and the kids got to draw in white chalk on them. She had two or three steamer trunks painted black opened up with books to read displayed cleverly; one setting had a Halloween scene. She had an old reading table, so her obviously talented daughter drew a mural on it. She had old ugly metal chairs so she painted each one a different bright color (which looked great with the blackboard lockers).
She told me about all of her after school programs. My word! This woman is a saint! I asked her which ones she could most use my help with, and she said the 'family nights', so I put those on my calendar as a priority. Some of the parents don't speak English, and she needs more help because the parents end up liking to learn from the activities too, so she has fewer helping hands. I am excited about helping such an amazing teacher!
I'm hoping to get to several schools every week. That's what my job is for, and I want to keep my focus on the schools.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
November 18, 2010
Today I worked on studying what materials to recommend for Vernon Middle School for their after school program. When I asked about the times they were meeting I found out that her weekly meeting only consisted of an after school recycling project. I told her that we needed to focus the learning a bit more, and I asked if I could come and offer her some help.
I finalized the date for May 19, pending confirmation of the availability of the U of I Memorial Union. I called Rebecca and she said she'd get back to me on it.
Jim called to see how I was doing, and it was really nice to hear from him. It is a tough day, because one of our Mt.Vernon students died today, and he was one of our Mt. Vernon teacher's kids. I did not have Jacob, who died, but I had his brother and worked with his father on my Iowa Core Committee.
I drove to Marion and met with Deb. She commented that she thought she was the only grant recipient meeting with the kids every week, so I showed her the schedule of when the other schools were meeting, which was an eye-opener for her because several of the other schools were meeting twice a week, and they were all meeting more than the 20 minutes that Vernon was meeting. I gave her three EIE manuals to look through, and recommended the Landscape Engineering since it was an advanced kit and seemed to compliment her current Prairie activities. She was receptive, and I told her I'd come back after she had some time to look through it. I also told her that Erica and I would do a little training with her before she started.
I got escorted out by one of her students. That was fun! Kids are so neat!
I finalized the date for May 19, pending confirmation of the availability of the U of I Memorial Union. I called Rebecca and she said she'd get back to me on it.
Jim called to see how I was doing, and it was really nice to hear from him. It is a tough day, because one of our Mt.Vernon students died today, and he was one of our Mt. Vernon teacher's kids. I did not have Jacob, who died, but I had his brother and worked with his father on my Iowa Core Committee.
I drove to Marion and met with Deb. She commented that she thought she was the only grant recipient meeting with the kids every week, so I showed her the schedule of when the other schools were meeting, which was an eye-opener for her because several of the other schools were meeting twice a week, and they were all meeting more than the 20 minutes that Vernon was meeting. I gave her three EIE manuals to look through, and recommended the Landscape Engineering since it was an advanced kit and seemed to compliment her current Prairie activities. She was receptive, and I told her I'd come back after she had some time to look through it. I also told her that Erica and I would do a little training with her before she started.
I got escorted out by one of her students. That was fun! Kids are so neat!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
November 16, 2010
PBS had a Town Hall Meeting on STEM Education and Attitudes in the US. This event used Twitter, Facebook and interactive technology using Vokle to have a conversation on this. Kids spoke about their experiences, and Al Gore asked them about what kinds of issues were, in their opinions, standing in the way of our world standing on math and science education. Unfortunately, I tuned in at 12:00 and it was winding down, and I realized it must have been a different time zone. Special guests were Arne Duncan, Dean Kamen, Sally Ride, and the Mythbusters Jamie and Adam. I imagine that I will be able to find more info on what happened. I did send out the info to several schools on the meeting. I'll be curious to find out if any classes tuned in from around here.
Wow! I just got an e-mail from Mount Vernon HS thanking me for sending the link, and that they watched it!
Wow! I just got an e-mail from Mount Vernon HS thanking me for sending the link, and that they watched it!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
November 16, 2010
Today I worked on getting the word out about a STEM event tomorrow on PBS. It says, "Discovery Education Participates in a Global Online Town Hall on STEM Education ET Join Dean Kamen, host of DEAN OF INVENTION and Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, the MYTHBUSTERS, along with young people from around the world for an interactive discussion exploring youth attitudes toward math and science education. www.DiscoveryEducation.com/STEM-Global-Town-Hall
Teachers, principals and other educators -- we invite you to bring this conversation into the classroom by hosting your own town hall viewing. Download this guide to connect your students "to their peers around the world in this dynamic discussion. "
I went to the site and I see that you have to do a little maneuvering to get to the video feed. I'm interested in seeing what they have to say tomorrow.
I went through all of the final report notebooks from since STEM started to try to collect some data. I'm starting with the simple data of how many students have participated in the STEM Grant activities. This data is not easy to extract from the reports. I would like to change the reporting so that 1. number of students served, and 2.How many contact hours were spent with the students. The reason that I want this data is because of the STEM Goals being:
Another thing I did was to write to my daughter's company "In-Three" that makes films into 3-D. They've done films the kids here have seen (G-Force and Alice in Wonderland), so I think it would be exciting, and it connects those who are artistic to the STEM careers. I asked if they would make a career video that we could use to promote careers in graphic technology. My daughter said they sounded excited about doing it, so we'll hope they go through with it. I have some other people in mind that I'd love a video from!!
I'm meeting with Janine today. She wants to become more familiar with my job, so she wants to meet once a month.
Teachers, principals and other educators -- we invite you to bring this conversation into the classroom by hosting your own town hall viewing. Download this guide to connect your students "to their peers around the world in this dynamic discussion. "
I went to the site and I see that you have to do a little maneuvering to get to the video feed. I'm interested in seeing what they have to say tomorrow.
I went through all of the final report notebooks from since STEM started to try to collect some data. I'm starting with the simple data of how many students have participated in the STEM Grant activities. This data is not easy to extract from the reports. I would like to change the reporting so that 1. number of students served, and 2.How many contact hours were spent with the students. The reason that I want this data is because of the STEM Goals being:
- nIncrease student participation in STEM activities
- nIncrease public awareness of the need to support student explorations and teacher resources involving STEM related learning opportunities.
- nImpact student awareness and knowledge levels of STEM career avenues and opportunities.
Another thing I did was to write to my daughter's company "In-Three" that makes films into 3-D. They've done films the kids here have seen (G-Force and Alice in Wonderland), so I think it would be exciting, and it connects those who are artistic to the STEM careers. I asked if they would make a career video that we could use to promote careers in graphic technology. My daughter said they sounded excited about doing it, so we'll hope they go through with it. I have some other people in mind that I'd love a video from!!
Another thing I've been working on today is getting the date and place worked out for our final showing in May. Rebecca Whittaker is ready to reserve the 19th of May for the Memorial Union once I get the OK for that date from everyone ( I asked all the grant recipients to respond with a yeah or nay for that date). I'm waiting for e-mail responses for that.
I'm meeting with Janine today. She wants to become more familiar with my job, so she wants to meet once a month.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
November 9, 2010
Today we had a Vast Science Team meeting. We started it off by doing our book study, which is on two books called Taking Science To School and Ready, Set, Science. These rare helpful to me because it is a rare opportunity to learn about science along with the consultants.
I got a lot done this afternoon. It's nice to have the luncheon behind me so I can focus on what I need to do to get organized for the next steps. I compiled the information including the Grant Sites, contact info, the dates I know of that they have chosen to meet and such. I also got the agenda pasted into my form for the OSO-CSI meeting tomorrow so that I can take notes properly, and made a list of the member's names so I could just check off who was there from my seat instead of relying on their attendance, which I didn't get a copy of last time. I also went through all my e-mails and found all of the correspondence concerning EIE kits so I could make a projection on which kits people were checking out for sure, which kits they might want and when, and which grants included mention of kits. I wanted to make sure we had enough kits of the ones that I could predict might be ordered. I think it's exciting to see the increase in the use of these kits. I do think Grant Wood AEA is driving an exciting change by being innovative and creative in their science leadership, and the EIE kits are an example of that.
I got a lot done this afternoon. It's nice to have the luncheon behind me so I can focus on what I need to do to get organized for the next steps. I compiled the information including the Grant Sites, contact info, the dates I know of that they have chosen to meet and such. I also got the agenda pasted into my form for the OSO-CSI meeting tomorrow so that I can take notes properly, and made a list of the member's names so I could just check off who was there from my seat instead of relying on their attendance, which I didn't get a copy of last time. I also went through all my e-mails and found all of the correspondence concerning EIE kits so I could make a projection on which kits people were checking out for sure, which kits they might want and when, and which grants included mention of kits. I wanted to make sure we had enough kits of the ones that I could predict might be ordered. I think it's exciting to see the increase in the use of these kits. I do think Grant Wood AEA is driving an exciting change by being innovative and creative in their science leadership, and the EIE kits are an example of that.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
November 4, 2010
I had a full week preparing for the STEM Grant Recipients' Luncheon. There were handouts to locate, to understand, and then to amend (in terms of contact names and dates). The slide show needed to be updated and changed according to some suggestions that Yukiko had made to me. One was that she didn't think the assessment piece was working for us, and so I had a lot of thinking and contacting others to do in order to find out what would be appropriate as far as assessment. I wanted to give the Power Point a bit more 'history' of where our common goals came from and put a bit more focus on our common goals. I wanted to emphasize creating more scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians through these projects. I began with researching the STEM initiative. I started making Power Point slides, trying to set the stage and tell the story. But this quickly became too wordy and boring. I had a talk with myself about putting all of Nannette into this, tired or not, and so I gave it all I had. Right up until 11:30 p.m. on November 3rd. It isn't perfect, but it gave the touch of creativity and meaning that I wanted it to have. I will go back at some point, I hope, and work with the audio levels, but here is the movie I created that I inserted into the Power Point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yhygCqG3Yc
(P.S. These photos came from my classroom and I pointed out before showing it that there were many parent volunteers, Cornell Professors and Rockwell Engineers in the photos. Some of the photos are also from our trip to Washington D.C. for the U.S.A. Science Expo).
I had a good turnout for the luncheon, and the recipients were grateful and delightful. I am so very lucky to have Jim Thornton behind this project. He is amazing. He is organized, helpful, patient, and experienced. It does my heart good to see someone so good at his job. He was an administrator, and I can tell the schools he worked for must have been in very good hands.
My favorite part of the luncheon were the gals from Hiawatha. They were so excited about having gone to Space Camp. I was pleased that one of them was African American, because we want to increase minority interest in science, and I can tell that this dynamic duo will do a great job of that with their program. I can't wait to see their flight activities!
(P.S. These photos came from my classroom and I pointed out before showing it that there were many parent volunteers, Cornell Professors and Rockwell Engineers in the photos. Some of the photos are also from our trip to Washington D.C. for the U.S.A. Science Expo).
I had a good turnout for the luncheon, and the recipients were grateful and delightful. I am so very lucky to have Jim Thornton behind this project. He is amazing. He is organized, helpful, patient, and experienced. It does my heart good to see someone so good at his job. He was an administrator, and I can tell the schools he worked for must have been in very good hands.
My favorite part of the luncheon were the gals from Hiawatha. They were so excited about having gone to Space Camp. I was pleased that one of them was African American, because we want to increase minority interest in science, and I can tell that this dynamic duo will do a great job of that with their program. I can't wait to see their flight activities!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
October 27-30
Erica and I went to Kansas City to the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) convention. We drove down on Wednesday and Erica walked me to the convention center where I met my group for the first learning activity I had scheduled, which was a 'behind the scenes' tour of the zoo. Life Science is one of my favorite. The tour guide took us to a place public usually doesn't get to see, which was a quarantined glass room (we were outside the glass, of course) for a frog that was extinct in the wild from a fungus. They were breeding these frogs and reintroducing them to the wild by the thousands. The problem was that last year they counted only four released frogs still living (they were all chipped with tracking devises). They predicted that all amphibians would be extinct within 25 years. Their skin is so absorbent that toxins were highly problematic to their systems.
I went to a session by J.Carrie Launius and E.Wendy Saul on 21st Century Science Inquiry, a session by Cathy Wissehr on Building an Outdoor Classroom, a session on Discovery-based Middle School Science on the PASCO SPARK Science Learning System (which is a hand-held computer devise used to teach science to students which combines science discovery with data collection). Grant Wood has 6 of these devises, so I plan to figure out what grant sites are using them and I hope to help them use the devises on site.
The science exhibit hall was full of great hands-on science learning. I could have spent all day in there. They certainly have some amazing stuff. One piece of equipment was of special interest to Erica, so we tried to win it. It was a digital microscope that hooks right up to the computer. We stayed for the drawing and we WON!!! Erica had wanted to show this to a lot of schools, so now she has the opportunity to do that!!!
I went to a session by J.Carrie Launius and E.Wendy Saul on 21st Century Science Inquiry, a session by Cathy Wissehr on Building an Outdoor Classroom, a session on Discovery-based Middle School Science on the PASCO SPARK Science Learning System (which is a hand-held computer devise used to teach science to students which combines science discovery with data collection). Grant Wood has 6 of these devises, so I plan to figure out what grant sites are using them and I hope to help them use the devises on site.
The science exhibit hall was full of great hands-on science learning. I could have spent all day in there. They certainly have some amazing stuff. One piece of equipment was of special interest to Erica, so we tried to win it. It was a digital microscope that hooks right up to the computer. We stayed for the drawing and we WON!!! Erica had wanted to show this to a lot of schools, so now she has the opportunity to do that!!!
Oct 22-25
IMSEP, or the Iowa Math and Science Education Partnership, sent a group of us to Washington D.C. for the U.S. Science Expo. We left the 22nd, and stayed at the Plaza Hotel. I learned how to use the Metro, and enjoyed seeing the beautiful architecture in D.C. Saturday morning we met to explain the exhibit to all of those who would be working at the booth. Erica, Jim and I had 2 exhibits to explain. One was "Catching the Wind", which was a windmill that kids can make out of an orange carton and several other things from home. The other was a propeller/rubber band on a line that could be wound to go. These two activities came from EIE (Engineering is Elementary) and FOSS. We showed people how they worked, and split up the 2 hours shifts. We had people come early, so Erica and I started off with a 3 hour shift. The kids were very interested in our activities, because we asked them a lot of engaging questions, and they liked figuring out the engineering behind the activities. Erica ran the propeller activity. She asked them if they thought they could make it go. Almost all of the kids began to blow on the propeller. She did not tell them what to do, but gently led their thinking by asking questions until they had success in winding the propeller. Then they had to figure out how to make it go the other way, which took winding the propeller the other way (counter clockwise, for instance, instead of clockwise). She had similar responses from 18 year olds blowing on it as she did 4 year olds. The art of questioning was the secret to unlocking the learner's potential understandings. I ran the windmill exhibit. I asked them to choose a blade system that they thought would make the windmill turn. They would choose one, and we would turn on the fan, which represented the wind. They tried several, and through questioning they noticed that blades could have different shapes, materials and numbers on each system. It was not possible with this activity to come to a certain conclusion as to which shape of blade worked best, because we had too many variables, (being homemade blades and homemade systems which were not exact), but through our observation we could see that some work better than others. One of the other things that the visitors learned was about how the windmill converted wind energy into mechanical energy when the windmill lifted the bucket. Little ones especially loved putting weights into the bucket to see if it could do work. We then let them design a blade and choose a material for the blade to put on our engineering design chart. I told them that they were being 'engineers' when they did that, so they would take home the idea of an example of what an engineer does. We also had two activities at the other table which more precisely compared blade systems and their effectiveness and measured the wind speed in exhaled breath.
We worked the booth both days, and had a little time to look at the other exhibits, but it was a pretty packed weekend by the time we worked our booths and did all the walking required to get from place to place (even with the Metro). We did get to the National Archives, and walked a long way to leave a note on the Veteran's Memorial Wall for a friend. We had a bomb scare at one point in which we had to leave our exhibit, and we were not allowed to go see Lincoln Memorial, which we had walked a long way to see, but we didn't get blown up on the Metro, which we later learned had been a foiled plot, so all was well.
We felt like we reached hundreds and hundreds of kids and that we passed on hands-on energy ideas to many teachers, and we felt like our booth was successful in its mission. The NASA booth across the aisle asked how we got so much interest in our booth. We knew it engaged the learner. Well.
We worked the booth both days, and had a little time to look at the other exhibits, but it was a pretty packed weekend by the time we worked our booths and did all the walking required to get from place to place (even with the Metro). We did get to the National Archives, and walked a long way to leave a note on the Veteran's Memorial Wall for a friend. We had a bomb scare at one point in which we had to leave our exhibit, and we were not allowed to go see Lincoln Memorial, which we had walked a long way to see, but we didn't get blown up on the Metro, which we later learned had been a foiled plot, so all was well.
We felt like we reached hundreds and hundreds of kids and that we passed on hands-on energy ideas to many teachers, and we felt like our booth was successful in its mission. The NASA booth across the aisle asked how we got so much interest in our booth. We knew it engaged the learner. Well.
Friday, October 15, 2010
October 14
Today I went to Des Moines for a meeting with the Iowa Department of Education about the state-wide STEM initiative and the Common Standards that would replace the Iowa Core Curriculum.
We learned that the Iowa Core and the Common Core will become one document by the end of the year. Rita Martins and Judith Spittle spoke about the transition of the Common Core to the Iowa Core and said that the Common Core is not a curriculum..but rather, it is a set of common goals. It will be grade specific..not in spans like 3-5 etc...
We discussed how we could increase STEM learning in Iowa. Changing the funding, teaching in a more project based way, putting STEM into the vision of ELI and Evey Student Counts were some of the ideas.
There is a website for us to use called Iowastem.org.
They said that minority populations of students are being accelerated out of STEM fields and we need to level the number of minority students going into STEM fields so it matches the percentage of population they represent in Iowa.
We met as a science group after lunch. We were asked to nominate a secondary science teacher for the presidential teaching award. Yvette McCulley led this part of the meeting.
These are the NSTA strategic goals:
1. Promote active participation of all teachers of science in improving science education.
2. Advocate for the central role of science education to benefit students and society
3. Support high quality science teaching to improve student learning for the 21st Century.
4. Influence research in science education and promote it's wide application to improve science teaching and student learning.
Mary Sullivan talked about data and evaluation. We discussed using information such as what professional development corresponds with what kind of achievement scores. We discussed sharing information better. One of the university representatives said that she'd like more information on how students excel so she could lead them better to a career in college.
I was really wondering about how we compare our data with other nations and whether most countries send all children to school the way we do...such as low functioning or low sociology-economic populations. I asked Mary Sullivan, and she said she didn't know, but she'd find out, and she took my business card to hopefully get back to me.
-Colleen Anderson spoke about Theory of Action. We made short, medium and long term goals for science education in Iowa.
-Evan Abbey talked about online learning initiatives..the website is http://bit.lyonlineinitiatives
-There will be a statewide Moodle server with online tools being developed
Moodle.aea11.k12.ia.us/moodle
-We received a 2.7 million dollar grant for Iowa schools to deliver online content courses, especially for districts to offer courses to small numbers of students.
-Iowa learning online is a DE initiative
OLLIE. Is online learning for Iowa educators
Jeff Weld is going to have Tonja Richards interview me next week for their newspaper. He said I'd be a great STEM story.
It was fun to go to a Department of Education meeting. I've never been to one before, and it was nice to learn about what they are like. I didn't know that the universities were communicating so well with the Department of Education, and that's nice to see!
We learned that the Iowa Core and the Common Core will become one document by the end of the year. Rita Martins and Judith Spittle spoke about the transition of the Common Core to the Iowa Core and said that the Common Core is not a curriculum..but rather, it is a set of common goals. It will be grade specific..not in spans like 3-5 etc...
We discussed how we could increase STEM learning in Iowa. Changing the funding, teaching in a more project based way, putting STEM into the vision of ELI and Evey Student Counts were some of the ideas.
There is a website for us to use called Iowastem.org.
They said that minority populations of students are being accelerated out of STEM fields and we need to level the number of minority students going into STEM fields so it matches the percentage of population they represent in Iowa.
We met as a science group after lunch. We were asked to nominate a secondary science teacher for the presidential teaching award. Yvette McCulley led this part of the meeting.
These are the NSTA strategic goals:
1. Promote active participation of all teachers of science in improving science education.
2. Advocate for the central role of science education to benefit students and society
3. Support high quality science teaching to improve student learning for the 21st Century.
4. Influence research in science education and promote it's wide application to improve science teaching and student learning.
Mary Sullivan talked about data and evaluation. We discussed using information such as what professional development corresponds with what kind of achievement scores. We discussed sharing information better. One of the university representatives said that she'd like more information on how students excel so she could lead them better to a career in college.
I was really wondering about how we compare our data with other nations and whether most countries send all children to school the way we do...such as low functioning or low sociology-economic populations. I asked Mary Sullivan, and she said she didn't know, but she'd find out, and she took my business card to hopefully get back to me.
-Colleen Anderson spoke about Theory of Action. We made short, medium and long term goals for science education in Iowa.
-Evan Abbey talked about online learning initiatives..the website is http://bit.lyonlineinitiatives
-There will be a statewide Moodle server with online tools being developed
Moodle.aea11.k12.ia.us/moodle
-We received a 2.7 million dollar grant for Iowa schools to deliver online content courses, especially for districts to offer courses to small numbers of students.
-Iowa learning online is a DE initiative
OLLIE. Is online learning for Iowa educators
Jeff Weld is going to have Tonja Richards interview me next week for their newspaper. He said I'd be a great STEM story.
It was fun to go to a Department of Education meeting. I've never been to one before, and it was nice to learn about what they are like. I didn't know that the universities were communicating so well with the Department of Education, and that's nice to see!
Oct 13
Today I met with Jim Thornton to go over plans for the November 4 luncheon and program for the new grant recipients. Jim is such a big help to me because he really has a handle on everything that should happen. What a safety net he is! He is a retired administrator who helps with the STEM-Grants as a part time job, and his expertise is invaluable. We went through the slides for the slide show and changed what we needed to change. We discussed who would need to present, the food, and the schedule. I have a list of what I need to do before then, and we're in good shape.
After the meeting with Jim I spent the rest of the day going through the grant applications and checking them off with the e-mails, going to the front desk and to the mailbox to make sure I had them all and then organizing them. I made a copy of the ones that didn't have more than one copy so that Jim could have a copy of each of them. He also wanted a typed list of them. I finished this and put them in a file for him, because we'd be meeting at the CSI-OSO (Corridor Stem Initiative Out of School Opportunities) meeting at 4. I barely finished all this in time to get there, but made it on time to Prairie for this meeting. We reported that we had more grants than we'd be able to accept, and we may be able to take 3 out of the 6 or 7 (we may have 7...still checking on one that may come in) instead of 2. We will have a grant reading committee with people from different disciplines on the 19th, at which time we will choose one. The Daughters Night out for STEM is this coming Monday evening, and Christopher, Jim and I were the ones there from Grant Wood. I met Dick Whitehead for the first time. He mentioned a name; Paula Loffsguard (spelling?), which I am pretty sure is a Newton name from my past. I need to find out. This meeting went a little later than they usually do, and I wasn't home till 6, and I knew I had to be back at Grant Wood by 6:20 A.M., so it was a whirlwind day!!
After the meeting with Jim I spent the rest of the day going through the grant applications and checking them off with the e-mails, going to the front desk and to the mailbox to make sure I had them all and then organizing them. I made a copy of the ones that didn't have more than one copy so that Jim could have a copy of each of them. He also wanted a typed list of them. I finished this and put them in a file for him, because we'd be meeting at the CSI-OSO (Corridor Stem Initiative Out of School Opportunities) meeting at 4. I barely finished all this in time to get there, but made it on time to Prairie for this meeting. We reported that we had more grants than we'd be able to accept, and we may be able to take 3 out of the 6 or 7 (we may have 7...still checking on one that may come in) instead of 2. We will have a grant reading committee with people from different disciplines on the 19th, at which time we will choose one. The Daughters Night out for STEM is this coming Monday evening, and Christopher, Jim and I were the ones there from Grant Wood. I met Dick Whitehead for the first time. He mentioned a name; Paula Loffsguard (spelling?), which I am pretty sure is a Newton name from my past. I need to find out. This meeting went a little later than they usually do, and I wasn't home till 6, and I knew I had to be back at Grant Wood by 6:20 A.M., so it was a whirlwind day!!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
October 12
Doug Johnson was the keynote speaker today at the second day of the I-Tech Conference. His topic was about teaching the Next-Gen (next generation) learners.
He said that discrimination and evaluation skills are important, and students need guides more than ever with all of these new technology tools. He spoke about their learning styles, and said that they are social learners...they seek personal information and are informal learners...they have hypertext minds who read visual images, they like inductive discovery, they learn by dong, and they shift their attention rapidly and expect fast responses. He said that they need engaging activities...not just entertaining activities.
His message was to use technology in the schools instead of banning it. He liked the use of cell phones to have students respond to surveys. He advises that we
teach copywriter rules from the point of view of the creator by having them create things that they wouldn't want copied and discuss it.
Have them work on things that matter...give assignments that are worth their time..make sure assignments are relevant to them.
He said that it will be easier to teach the next generation learners by changing the way we teach than changing the way they learn. I liked his speech very much, and agreed with him. I mostly liked the respect he had for the learners of today, and the way he wished for them to be embraced for the amazing learners they are and to embrace technology for the amazing tool that it is. Especially with guidance!
I went to Vendor Hall and asked a lot of questions of the vendors to find out what was new. I ran into someone who was working with Mount Vernon to get their one-to-one initiative going; hopefully this year.
My favorite session today was by Morrie Reece, and it was on using i-pad in the science classroom. I learned about a lot of nice apps for the i-pad, and I didn't know that you could use a wireless microscope (a pricey one...though) with the i-pad. He used a document camera to project the i-pad to the screen. He had one that zoomed in on the parts of the internal anatomy...even into the ventricles of the heart.
He said that discrimination and evaluation skills are important, and students need guides more than ever with all of these new technology tools. He spoke about their learning styles, and said that they are social learners...they seek personal information and are informal learners...they have hypertext minds who read visual images, they like inductive discovery, they learn by dong, and they shift their attention rapidly and expect fast responses. He said that they need engaging activities...not just entertaining activities.
His message was to use technology in the schools instead of banning it. He liked the use of cell phones to have students respond to surveys. He advises that we
teach copywriter rules from the point of view of the creator by having them create things that they wouldn't want copied and discuss it.
Have them work on things that matter...give assignments that are worth their time..make sure assignments are relevant to them.
He said that it will be easier to teach the next generation learners by changing the way we teach than changing the way they learn. I liked his speech very much, and agreed with him. I mostly liked the respect he had for the learners of today, and the way he wished for them to be embraced for the amazing learners they are and to embrace technology for the amazing tool that it is. Especially with guidance!
I went to Vendor Hall and asked a lot of questions of the vendors to find out what was new. I ran into someone who was working with Mount Vernon to get their one-to-one initiative going; hopefully this year.
My favorite session today was by Morrie Reece, and it was on using i-pad in the science classroom. I learned about a lot of nice apps for the i-pad, and I didn't know that you could use a wireless microscope (a pricey one...though) with the i-pad. He used a document camera to project the i-pad to the screen. He had one that zoomed in on the parts of the internal anatomy...even into the ventricles of the heart.
Monday, October 11, 2010
October 11
Today I went to an ITEC conference (Iowa Technology Education Connection). One of my favorite things that the keynote speaker said was that a great leader was knowledgable, trustworthy and generous with their time. She said that technology needs to be 'people-centric'.
I went to Vendor Hall, where they had all kinds of great technology from Smart Boards to battery back-up systems to keyboards and software. My favorite was a new document camera called a 'Lady Bug' that is more well designed, in my opinion, than the one I have used. The price for the least expensive one is two hundred some dollars. I Will encourage some of the teachers I know to apply for a grant to get one. I'd like to see more of these in classrooms.
I took a flier to show some people.
My favorite workshop was called 'Gadgets!'. I learned about a lot of new programs like Google Talk, which will turn notes into a document using optical character recognition. I took note of a way to send RSS feeds to myself, such as newspaper articles on particular subjects. They stressed that Twitter was a good educational tool, and it could be used to feed updates to a website using Widgets.
I went to a workshop called 'What's New from Apple'. I was disappointed in this session, which was more geared for authorized purchasers from schools.
I look forward to going again tomorrow. I'll know my way around a bit better and I'll be able to enjoy even more technical gadget information! I really do love technology!!!!
After the conference I went to Mount Vernon to meet with the ELP teacher about EIE kits. She was interested in one of them, so I left the manual for her to read. I also told her that I might want to work with the fourth graders so that students outside of ELP(Extended Learning Opportunities...which is the gifted and talented class for Mount Vernon) also got to experience EIE (Engineering is Elementary).
I went to Vendor Hall, where they had all kinds of great technology from Smart Boards to battery back-up systems to keyboards and software. My favorite was a new document camera called a 'Lady Bug' that is more well designed, in my opinion, than the one I have used. The price for the least expensive one is two hundred some dollars. I Will encourage some of the teachers I know to apply for a grant to get one. I'd like to see more of these in classrooms.
I took a flier to show some people.
My favorite workshop was called 'Gadgets!'. I learned about a lot of new programs like Google Talk, which will turn notes into a document using optical character recognition. I took note of a way to send RSS feeds to myself, such as newspaper articles on particular subjects. They stressed that Twitter was a good educational tool, and it could be used to feed updates to a website using Widgets.
I went to a workshop called 'What's New from Apple'. I was disappointed in this session, which was more geared for authorized purchasers from schools.
I look forward to going again tomorrow. I'll know my way around a bit better and I'll be able to enjoy even more technical gadget information! I really do love technology!!!!
After the conference I went to Mount Vernon to meet with the ELP teacher about EIE kits. She was interested in one of them, so I left the manual for her to read. I also told her that I might want to work with the fourth graders so that students outside of ELP(Extended Learning Opportunities...which is the gifted and talented class for Mount Vernon) also got to experience EIE (Engineering is Elementary).
Sunday, October 10, 2010
October 7-8
Thursday and Friday of this week were spent in Ames, Iowa at the ISTS (Iowa Science Teaching Section) Conference. We started off at a leadership team meeting (after our GPS took us to a cornfield where we decided it probably wasn't, being that there weren't any buildings there). It was interesting to hear from the different AEA's what was going on in their necks of the woods. Money was a main issue, and trying to meet the needs of the teachers when they couldn't get the teachers off for meetings due to budget constraints. There were strategic conversations about how to best lead...and it was brought up that perhaps meeting with the teachers at the beginning or the end of the year might not be the most effective way to guide, but that a model being used in Cedar Rapids was quite effective, which had to do with helping the teachers along as they go and guiding them to lead themselves.
After this meeting we went to the NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching Banquet. The award was for a Des Moines North High School Physics teacher, Jessica Gogerty. Her physics teacher was there to share in the honor (which I loved, because it made it a two for one honor). After her speech there was a presentation from IPTV (Iowa Public Television) on Iowa's One-Room School Houses. I sat by a man who had gone to a one room school. The thing I took away from that was that schools have changed a lot over the years, but I did not wish for them to go back to one room; but rather to remember that the bond between the teacher and the students was one of the most important things we shouldn't lose as we change through time.
On Friday we went to a church called the Cornerstone Church (because the original location had been flooded). The church was huge. I can't get over its size. It had 2 or 3 coffee shops in it, 2 auditoriums (one that holds over a thousand people) and a gymnasium, and a bridge that goes over water, and that's just a brief description of the massive building. Anyway, I started off in a session called "Must have STEM Resources from IPTV-'I had no idea'". I have a whole list of programs I want to check out from this session, but the one that I am most interested in is called, "NOVA- The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers". I'm thinking that I want to get the grant sites to show several of these (spread out)to get the kids more interested in science as a career. They feature scientists and their hobbies...making scientists look more fun and less Geeky. The one I saw featured a female science college student at MIT who also was a cheerleader.
I went to a session called "Accessing NASA Professional Development", which was about some free professional development opportunities from NASA and how they can be brought to the school. There is one grant that has to do with space, so I will see if that fits their activities.
I accidentally went to a session about a curriculum on water and waste-water treatment (I meant to go to another session, but there was a room mix-up misprint). I got a CD that I may or may not use.
Next, I went to a session called "KISS the Wind", which was brought by Pat Higby of UNI, who was part of the Washington DC trip planning (although she said she isn't going). This activity was going, however, along with two of her students. This was a device that measures wind speed, which was used to test several things we built out of a motor and fan blades.
We went to a luncheon that honored several people with ISTS awards, and then we went to a program in the auditorium. This was a portrayal of Galileo through the presenter, Michael Francis, dressing up like Galileo and showing us how he discovered several things that were new to the time (and contradicted the teachings of Aristotle). He really knew his stuff, and took questions about his life, which he answered in depth with enthusiasm. This is actually a good assignment to give a student who is interested in theater in order to learn scientific thinking and historical science perspective.
The last session I went to was by Richard Heathcote and Erica on "Educational resource in geology and ecology at Whiterock Conservance, Coon Rapids". This was a presentation to feature the interesting geological features that could be used to enhance learning via a field trip to the Whiterock Conservatory and landscape.
There were exhibits in the foyer that I also looked at. One that Erica wanted me to be sure to catch was on some probes that we own at Grant Wood. I would be able to use these with schools, so I went and talked to the vendor to find out how they worked.
We got home at 6:30 or so, and it was a lot to take in, but worth the drive.
After this meeting we went to the NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching Banquet. The award was for a Des Moines North High School Physics teacher, Jessica Gogerty. Her physics teacher was there to share in the honor (which I loved, because it made it a two for one honor). After her speech there was a presentation from IPTV (Iowa Public Television) on Iowa's One-Room School Houses. I sat by a man who had gone to a one room school. The thing I took away from that was that schools have changed a lot over the years, but I did not wish for them to go back to one room; but rather to remember that the bond between the teacher and the students was one of the most important things we shouldn't lose as we change through time.
On Friday we went to a church called the Cornerstone Church (because the original location had been flooded). The church was huge. I can't get over its size. It had 2 or 3 coffee shops in it, 2 auditoriums (one that holds over a thousand people) and a gymnasium, and a bridge that goes over water, and that's just a brief description of the massive building. Anyway, I started off in a session called "Must have STEM Resources from IPTV-'I had no idea'". I have a whole list of programs I want to check out from this session, but the one that I am most interested in is called, "NOVA- The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers". I'm thinking that I want to get the grant sites to show several of these (spread out)to get the kids more interested in science as a career. They feature scientists and their hobbies...making scientists look more fun and less Geeky. The one I saw featured a female science college student at MIT who also was a cheerleader.
I went to a session called "Accessing NASA Professional Development", which was about some free professional development opportunities from NASA and how they can be brought to the school. There is one grant that has to do with space, so I will see if that fits their activities.
I accidentally went to a session about a curriculum on water and waste-water treatment (I meant to go to another session, but there was a room mix-up misprint). I got a CD that I may or may not use.
Next, I went to a session called "KISS the Wind", which was brought by Pat Higby of UNI, who was part of the Washington DC trip planning (although she said she isn't going). This activity was going, however, along with two of her students. This was a device that measures wind speed, which was used to test several things we built out of a motor and fan blades.
We went to a luncheon that honored several people with ISTS awards, and then we went to a program in the auditorium. This was a portrayal of Galileo through the presenter, Michael Francis, dressing up like Galileo and showing us how he discovered several things that were new to the time (and contradicted the teachings of Aristotle). He really knew his stuff, and took questions about his life, which he answered in depth with enthusiasm. This is actually a good assignment to give a student who is interested in theater in order to learn scientific thinking and historical science perspective.
The last session I went to was by Richard Heathcote and Erica on "Educational resource in geology and ecology at Whiterock Conservance, Coon Rapids". This was a presentation to feature the interesting geological features that could be used to enhance learning via a field trip to the Whiterock Conservatory and landscape.
There were exhibits in the foyer that I also looked at. One that Erica wanted me to be sure to catch was on some probes that we own at Grant Wood. I would be able to use these with schools, so I went and talked to the vendor to find out how they worked.
We got home at 6:30 or so, and it was a lot to take in, but worth the drive.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
October 6
This morning I'm trying to plan for the whirlwind month coming up. I leave for Ames tomorrow, to be there through Friday, and then Monday and Tuesday I'm going to a technology conference in Coralville. As I look through the breakout sessions available for Monday and Tuesday to find the ones most needed for my current position, I see that one is about using social media in the classroom. Last week when I visited Mount Vernon I encountered a question about whether using Facebook as a classroom tool was appropriate (and I don't know the answer yet). I wrote to the person who asked me to tell her about this conference so that perhaps she could learn the answer. I also saw a computer program spotlight on using Read Naturally on the computer to enhance fluency, so I e-mailed about that workshop to the reading teachers in my district, in case they were interested in going to that. I also wrote to the ELP teacher at my school and offered to try out an EIE kit with her so we could learn it together.
I devised a new assessment survey for the Grant Sites that should gather data more efficiently on the number of science careers students are interested in before and after the programs. I sent it to our Mount Vernon grant site (Susan) to ask her opinion of it and to make suggestions.
I wrote to Mary Lou Erlacher today and told her how impressed I was with the WLC (Workplace Learning Connection) yesterday at College Community School District. I wouldn't have known how they were behind the scenes without having gone to the WLC meeting in Iowa City and having them explain their work to me.
I may be going to Mount Vernon on Monday after the ITEC conference to show the ELP (gifted and talented) teacher 3 ideas I have for EIE (Engineering is Elementary) kits that she could use with the K-2 kids. These go with the FOSS kits they are currently using in the regular classroom to extend their learning in the engineering field. One is about designing walls and is tied to a story about the Great Wall of China, one is about designing windmills (and this is the one we're taking to Washington DC) and one is about designing play dough. I looked through the grant site applications and it is unclear which EIE kits they want to use, then I found the checkout for last year to see which ones they used, and it looks like these would be available to use unless someone adds a kit and I don't know about their plans. 2 of each kit isn't very many to go around once we get people going on these (and I'm pretty fired up about them!!).
I devised a new assessment survey for the Grant Sites that should gather data more efficiently on the number of science careers students are interested in before and after the programs. I sent it to our Mount Vernon grant site (Susan) to ask her opinion of it and to make suggestions.
I wrote to Mary Lou Erlacher today and told her how impressed I was with the WLC (Workplace Learning Connection) yesterday at College Community School District. I wouldn't have known how they were behind the scenes without having gone to the WLC meeting in Iowa City and having them explain their work to me.
I may be going to Mount Vernon on Monday after the ITEC conference to show the ELP (gifted and talented) teacher 3 ideas I have for EIE (Engineering is Elementary) kits that she could use with the K-2 kids. These go with the FOSS kits they are currently using in the regular classroom to extend their learning in the engineering field. One is about designing walls and is tied to a story about the Great Wall of China, one is about designing windmills (and this is the one we're taking to Washington DC) and one is about designing play dough. I looked through the grant site applications and it is unclear which EIE kits they want to use, then I found the checkout for last year to see which ones they used, and it looks like these would be available to use unless someone adds a kit and I don't know about their plans. 2 of each kit isn't very many to go around once we get people going on these (and I'm pretty fired up about them!!).
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
October 5
Today I went to College Community School District to see their Career Day. It was held at the high school, and it was organized by WLC, (Workplace Learning Connection), which is an organization that schools pay to connect them to career experiences and opportunities (and internships).
This was highly organized and well done. The speakers I went to were:
Department of Anesthesia, UIHC
Pam Jacobs, RN, BSN, CCRC
Clinical Research Coordinator
This one was a nurse who works in research. She loved her job, and presented by giving students pre-written questions which she had brought with her. These were numbered. She asked each student to give their name before asking the question, and she said, "Nice to meet you, __________" before answering. She did this because she didn't find public speaking to be an easy thing to do and found this tool beneficial to her speaking style. It worked well, and involved the students in a non-threatening manner.
UNI
Dr. Chad Heinzel
Geologist and Professor
This professor had put together an activity to involve the students. He divided up groups and each group had a set of questions and a 'role' they were to be in to answer the question. The group that I sat with was to answer the questions from the role of the government, and the questions had to do with the supply and production of petroleum. It was interesting that the kids didn't really understand the supply and demand of oil in the United States, nor the role the government would have in decisions affecting it. They were asked how the government my use scientists in this role. They were guided to the idea that research was needed in finding other resources since oil's supply was lower than its demand in the United States.
My Chiro
Bruce Weisbein
Chiropractor/Owner
This chiropractor used a lecture style to tell the students about his career path and his job as a chiropractor. He had some guiding questions he used from WLC, such as, "What personality traits are needed for this job?". He did a good job explaining his job, but didn't get a lot of interaction out of the kids. He handed out a business card, which I was wondering about (our school just had a big to-do about advertising in school).
Clipper
Mike Cavanaugh
Manufacturing Engineer
This man had quite the business background. He used the overhead (or a computer..I didn't notice which) to put his work experience up on the screen. He had worked in at least 10 different places, and made it clear that with a science/technology/engineering degree he was marketable in many kinds of businesses. He did a good job of showing that people who like to work hands-on with machines have many kinds of opportunities, and he went to Kirkwood, which gave career day a nice well-rounded kind of educational opportunity portrayal.
I stayed till just after noon and felt that I had a good sample of Career Day so I went back to the office to catch up on my STEM activities.
I finished proofreading the toolkits "Living Things" and "Measuring Time" yesterday and met with Val to go over my corrections, which I had printed out for her so that she could easily find what I was correcting. There was only one broken link and the Iowa Core was the only one that needed to be more specific, except for Mediagraphies, which links to a link. Val said that it needed to do that or it times out. The vocabulary was one of the main places where format was not uniform. Some were capitalized lists, some were not, some were bulleted, some said that there was no vocabulary and some said that this was the vocabulary, but then had a blank (because there wasn't any). So we made that uniform. I made a lot of grammar and spelling corrections, mostly subject/verb agreements.
Today I went through all of the TIR files for the handouts, agenda and information needed for the Nov.4 meeting with the new grant recipients. There is a lot of stuff there, including speakers, a Power Point, handouts, forms, agenda....assessments for pre and post data collection, and more. My head is spinning. I e-mailed Jim and asked him if he had time to meet tomorrow. My chances of him being able to are probably not high, but I have no time to waste in getting ready. I didn't really realize I had to organize this, so I'm trying to get right on it.
Jeanne and Erica, you have been awesome, and I want to thank you for your guidance, patience and faith in me. I'm trying my hardest to make the most of this wonderful experience. I feel blessed to be here, and I'll do everything I can to give it all I have.
This was highly organized and well done. The speakers I went to were:
Department of Anesthesia, UIHC
Pam Jacobs, RN, BSN, CCRC
Clinical Research Coordinator
This one was a nurse who works in research. She loved her job, and presented by giving students pre-written questions which she had brought with her. These were numbered. She asked each student to give their name before asking the question, and she said, "Nice to meet you, __________" before answering. She did this because she didn't find public speaking to be an easy thing to do and found this tool beneficial to her speaking style. It worked well, and involved the students in a non-threatening manner.
UNI
Dr. Chad Heinzel
Geologist and Professor
This professor had put together an activity to involve the students. He divided up groups and each group had a set of questions and a 'role' they were to be in to answer the question. The group that I sat with was to answer the questions from the role of the government, and the questions had to do with the supply and production of petroleum. It was interesting that the kids didn't really understand the supply and demand of oil in the United States, nor the role the government would have in decisions affecting it. They were asked how the government my use scientists in this role. They were guided to the idea that research was needed in finding other resources since oil's supply was lower than its demand in the United States.
My Chiro
Bruce Weisbein
Chiropractor/Owner
This chiropractor used a lecture style to tell the students about his career path and his job as a chiropractor. He had some guiding questions he used from WLC, such as, "What personality traits are needed for this job?". He did a good job explaining his job, but didn't get a lot of interaction out of the kids. He handed out a business card, which I was wondering about (our school just had a big to-do about advertising in school).
Clipper
Mike Cavanaugh
Manufacturing Engineer
This man had quite the business background. He used the overhead (or a computer..I didn't notice which) to put his work experience up on the screen. He had worked in at least 10 different places, and made it clear that with a science/technology/engineering degree he was marketable in many kinds of businesses. He did a good job of showing that people who like to work hands-on with machines have many kinds of opportunities, and he went to Kirkwood, which gave career day a nice well-rounded kind of educational opportunity portrayal.
I stayed till just after noon and felt that I had a good sample of Career Day so I went back to the office to catch up on my STEM activities.
I finished proofreading the toolkits "Living Things" and "Measuring Time" yesterday and met with Val to go over my corrections, which I had printed out for her so that she could easily find what I was correcting. There was only one broken link and the Iowa Core was the only one that needed to be more specific, except for Mediagraphies, which links to a link. Val said that it needed to do that or it times out. The vocabulary was one of the main places where format was not uniform. Some were capitalized lists, some were not, some were bulleted, some said that there was no vocabulary and some said that this was the vocabulary, but then had a blank (because there wasn't any). So we made that uniform. I made a lot of grammar and spelling corrections, mostly subject/verb agreements.
Today I went through all of the TIR files for the handouts, agenda and information needed for the Nov.4 meeting with the new grant recipients. There is a lot of stuff there, including speakers, a Power Point, handouts, forms, agenda....assessments for pre and post data collection, and more. My head is spinning. I e-mailed Jim and asked him if he had time to meet tomorrow. My chances of him being able to are probably not high, but I have no time to waste in getting ready. I didn't really realize I had to organize this, so I'm trying to get right on it.
Jeanne and Erica, you have been awesome, and I want to thank you for your guidance, patience and faith in me. I'm trying my hardest to make the most of this wonderful experience. I feel blessed to be here, and I'll do everything I can to give it all I have.
Friday, October 1, 2010
October 1, 2010
Today I started the day off early. I was at Mount Vernon High School by 7:20 to see the virtual reality project they were doing. I was supposed to meet Phyllis there, so I waited in the office until 7:30, but she didn't come. I've tried to bring Grant Wood together more with Mount Vernon but things keep happening to get in the way of that.
The teacher I arranged this with was Richard Scearce, but there was another teacher in there named Joe Wallace (I looked him up and he's not on the staff list...so he's either brand new or he's a student teacher, and I didn't catch which). He and Richard are both on the syllabus they gave me. The students were at the very beginning stages with their projects. Richard wanted them to come up with a project that had a learning objective within the technology objective. I knew the kids in there, and got some hugs, so that was extra fun. Richard told them that "Mrs. Gunn would probably be willing to help them come up with better objectives than I could..maybe she'd be willing to let you e-mail her." So I gave them my e-mail address and told them I'd be happy to help them with that.
I met Erica at a coffee shop in Cedar Rapids for a meeting after going to Mount Vernon. We went over some things she thought I'd like to see, such as a career day that would be going on at College Community. We discussed the virtual reality experience and how we could use Richard's great syllabus to aid other people who needed some guidance.
After meeting with Erica I went back to the high school. First I talked to some teachers who wanted to know about my new job, which led us into a discussion about something they wanted help with. The yearbook leader wanted to use Facebook for a social networking group in which the yearbook team could communicate. She asked my thoughts on that and I said I'd check it out. I'll run this by Kay Rewerts and see if other schools are doing that. I know there are Wiki's that might work for that too.
I located Richard, and asked him about sharing his syllabus. He told me where he got his ideas, and said that he'd e-mail all his files to me along with a grading rubric for the virtual reality project. He also would provide the e-mail of the teacher that gave him some of his ideas, which Richard had revised, but could also need approval from before I share the documents with others.
I had a whirlwind week with a lot of meetings and a lot of new things to digest. I need to go back through my e-mails and make sure I didn't miss any. Also, in registering for so many conferences I need to get my registrations in one place.
It was nice to touch base with the people in Mount Vernon. It is Richard's wife, Deanne, that is the ELP teacher that wants to use the EIE kits. I need to read those manuals so I can get going on that.
The teacher I arranged this with was Richard Scearce, but there was another teacher in there named Joe Wallace (I looked him up and he's not on the staff list...so he's either brand new or he's a student teacher, and I didn't catch which). He and Richard are both on the syllabus they gave me. The students were at the very beginning stages with their projects. Richard wanted them to come up with a project that had a learning objective within the technology objective. I knew the kids in there, and got some hugs, so that was extra fun. Richard told them that "Mrs. Gunn would probably be willing to help them come up with better objectives than I could..maybe she'd be willing to let you e-mail her." So I gave them my e-mail address and told them I'd be happy to help them with that.
I met Erica at a coffee shop in Cedar Rapids for a meeting after going to Mount Vernon. We went over some things she thought I'd like to see, such as a career day that would be going on at College Community. We discussed the virtual reality experience and how we could use Richard's great syllabus to aid other people who needed some guidance.
After meeting with Erica I went back to the high school. First I talked to some teachers who wanted to know about my new job, which led us into a discussion about something they wanted help with. The yearbook leader wanted to use Facebook for a social networking group in which the yearbook team could communicate. She asked my thoughts on that and I said I'd check it out. I'll run this by Kay Rewerts and see if other schools are doing that. I know there are Wiki's that might work for that too.
I located Richard, and asked him about sharing his syllabus. He told me where he got his ideas, and said that he'd e-mail all his files to me along with a grading rubric for the virtual reality project. He also would provide the e-mail of the teacher that gave him some of his ideas, which Richard had revised, but could also need approval from before I share the documents with others.
I had a whirlwind week with a lot of meetings and a lot of new things to digest. I need to go back through my e-mails and make sure I didn't miss any. Also, in registering for so many conferences I need to get my registrations in one place.
It was nice to touch base with the people in Mount Vernon. It is Richard's wife, Deanne, that is the ELP teacher that wants to use the EIE kits. I need to read those manuals so I can get going on that.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
September 30
We had a science team meeting today. I wrote down some of the things I was wondering about:
•What is the ‘Lean Process’?
•How did I miss what Jeanne asked us to bring to the meeting?
•Trace redesign? What is that? In house.
•“Our context has changed” Interesting. I think we're in the middle of more (new STEM interest).
•Where can I find Steve’s alignment of VAST with the Iowa Core?
•Could there be a computer program that hyperlinks each kit to Iowa Core in such a way that it would ‘load’ all the Iowa Core present and missing when each kit is chosen, thereby showing what they have and what they lack after all their kits are considered as part of the curriculum?
•Who is North Linn? (I found out...Coggan, Troy Mills, Walker)
•What is a ‘development director’? (Sue Russ, North Linn Middle School Staff)
•Moodle course...should I take this?
•What kind of data could I collect on EIE?
•What if the science team took the Strengths Training 2.0 and identified their personal strengths, and then their various tasks were labeled with the strengths needed for those tasks and they guided each other toward tasks that utilized their strengths?
•Should our visitor from Science Writing Heuristic come to FOSS kit trainings?
•What did they mean by some being the ‘control’ and some being treatment
•I see an ongoing problem with districts being allowed to go without the ‘why’ behind their curriculum (like Lone Tree opting out of their training…and Mount Vernon not having science consultants involved in their new science curriculum initiative. Should the state be doing something to guide this process?
•What is IES? (I found out...This is a grant).
•Research grant could partner with Lawrence Hall.
•Ask Lori for her code on the Fossmap assessment tool.
•What is the research on self-contained vs departmentalization in the elementary school?
•You were going to ask Julie if there was a team Google calendar?
I went through my most pressing questions with Erica, who patiently answered them. I sometimes feel like an ant at a huge picnic and I'm just getting the tiniest piece of what is there, but it is still 1000 times my size and I'm determined to get it.
Today is Stacey's last day. The science team is caught between taking up what she usually does and advocating for replacing her position. I think they all behaved professionally in this delicate situation. I sure hope they don't get overstretched. In my thirst for quality I dread making quality yield to quantity.
•What is the ‘Lean Process’?
•How did I miss what Jeanne asked us to bring to the meeting?
•Trace redesign? What is that? In house.
•“Our context has changed” Interesting. I think we're in the middle of more (new STEM interest).
•Where can I find Steve’s alignment of VAST with the Iowa Core?
•Could there be a computer program that hyperlinks each kit to Iowa Core in such a way that it would ‘load’ all the Iowa Core present and missing when each kit is chosen, thereby showing what they have and what they lack after all their kits are considered as part of the curriculum?
•Who is North Linn? (I found out...Coggan, Troy Mills, Walker)
•What is a ‘development director’? (Sue Russ, North Linn Middle School Staff)
•Moodle course...should I take this?
•What kind of data could I collect on EIE?
•What if the science team took the Strengths Training 2.0 and identified their personal strengths, and then their various tasks were labeled with the strengths needed for those tasks and they guided each other toward tasks that utilized their strengths?
•Should our visitor from Science Writing Heuristic come to FOSS kit trainings?
•What did they mean by some being the ‘control’ and some being treatment
•I see an ongoing problem with districts being allowed to go without the ‘why’ behind their curriculum (like Lone Tree opting out of their training…and Mount Vernon not having science consultants involved in their new science curriculum initiative. Should the state be doing something to guide this process?
•What is IES? (I found out...This is a grant).
•Research grant could partner with Lawrence Hall.
•Ask Lori for her code on the Fossmap assessment tool.
•What is the research on self-contained vs departmentalization in the elementary school?
•You were going to ask Julie if there was a team Google calendar?
I went through my most pressing questions with Erica, who patiently answered them. I sometimes feel like an ant at a huge picnic and I'm just getting the tiniest piece of what is there, but it is still 1000 times my size and I'm determined to get it.
Today is Stacey's last day. The science team is caught between taking up what she usually does and advocating for replacing her position. I think they all behaved professionally in this delicate situation. I sure hope they don't get overstretched. In my thirst for quality I dread making quality yield to quantity.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
September 29
Today as I drove to work I had a feeling that it was a magical day. The music on the radio paired with the birds in the air and the fog curtains opening up to me on the ground set the stage for a perfect day.
Yukiko, last year's Teacher in Residence, came at 8:30. She was very easy to relate to, and knew my questions before they were even all the way out of my mouth. I didn't even know how to word them, and she knew what I was looking for. She showed me where to find some of the key materials I needed. We went into full thinking mode the second she got there and I picked her brain all the way up till noon, when we were to be at the 33rd Avenue building for lunch to meet with the other TIR's and Erica. There I got to meet Lori, the first TIR, and Susan, the second. They were all easy to talk to and had the passion for science that I love to be around. Erica had great moderator skills, which is always a plus in a meeting because it moves when it should move and it pauses for discussion when appropriate, it has meaning and it's meaning is not that a 'meeting occurred', but that there is meaning in what occurred at the meeting.
Some of the things I learned were that there are only 2 EIE kits for the EIE units (except for 2, and one of those has 1 and the other has none). The EIE kits are one of the most important things I need to learn about. Yukiko had a suggestion that I use my district as a place to learn a kit. Since the ELP teacher shows some interest, she thinks I should help teach it so I can get familiar with one before I train anyone. This way she can get trained at the same time I'm learning, and my district wouldn't have to pay for the kit because I'd be learning on it. My district would be getting something out of me being in this position, and it is a win/win. (Tell me what you think....Jeanne and Erica).
I went home feeling like one of the luckiest people on earth...getting to work with such professional and wise people with such great purpose. It was a magical day, indeed. And when I got home my husband called from the country club. He'd gotten a hole in one!
Yukiko, last year's Teacher in Residence, came at 8:30. She was very easy to relate to, and knew my questions before they were even all the way out of my mouth. I didn't even know how to word them, and she knew what I was looking for. She showed me where to find some of the key materials I needed. We went into full thinking mode the second she got there and I picked her brain all the way up till noon, when we were to be at the 33rd Avenue building for lunch to meet with the other TIR's and Erica. There I got to meet Lori, the first TIR, and Susan, the second. They were all easy to talk to and had the passion for science that I love to be around. Erica had great moderator skills, which is always a plus in a meeting because it moves when it should move and it pauses for discussion when appropriate, it has meaning and it's meaning is not that a 'meeting occurred', but that there is meaning in what occurred at the meeting.
Some of the things I learned were that there are only 2 EIE kits for the EIE units (except for 2, and one of those has 1 and the other has none). The EIE kits are one of the most important things I need to learn about. Yukiko had a suggestion that I use my district as a place to learn a kit. Since the ELP teacher shows some interest, she thinks I should help teach it so I can get familiar with one before I train anyone. This way she can get trained at the same time I'm learning, and my district wouldn't have to pay for the kit because I'd be learning on it. My district would be getting something out of me being in this position, and it is a win/win. (Tell me what you think....Jeanne and Erica).
I went home feeling like one of the luckiest people on earth...getting to work with such professional and wise people with such great purpose. It was a magical day, indeed. And when I got home my husband called from the country club. He'd gotten a hole in one!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
September 28
I had a good day getting organized for tomorrow. I get to meet all of the previous teachers-in-residence, and I wanted to use my time well with Yukiko so I made a list of my questions and a pile of my documents. She's going to meet me over here at 6th Street first.
I made contact with Susan Noreuil from Coe, who is in charge of Coe's Science Olympiad Tournament. I wanted to get a website to which I could refer people (and I want to give these brochures to the TIR's in hopes of getting them to the right people tomorrow). I also left a message with Sara Larkin to set up our schedule for working together (EIE for the Braille program).
Jeanne suggested reading Strengths 2.0, so I did that Sunday, and learned that my strengths are these:
Strategic
Ideation
Connectedness
Maximizer
Intellection
It is my hope that I build upon these strengths as a TIR and use them to my potential. In the if I am ever in charge of mentoring, teaching, or leading, I would like to know the strengths of those with whom I am working so I can maximize their potential. It is the way I teach students and it is also the way I'd like to lead adults. I do believe we have a lot of strengths that won't be identified or labeled that I don't want to miss out on by focusing too narrowly, however. It is a great place to start, though.
I made contact with Susan Noreuil from Coe, who is in charge of Coe's Science Olympiad Tournament. I wanted to get a website to which I could refer people (and I want to give these brochures to the TIR's in hopes of getting them to the right people tomorrow). I also left a message with Sara Larkin to set up our schedule for working together (EIE for the Braille program).
Jeanne suggested reading Strengths 2.0, so I did that Sunday, and learned that my strengths are these:
Strategic
Ideation
Connectedness
Maximizer
Intellection
It is my hope that I build upon these strengths as a TIR and use them to my potential. In the if I am ever in charge of mentoring, teaching, or leading, I would like to know the strengths of those with whom I am working so I can maximize their potential. It is the way I teach students and it is also the way I'd like to lead adults. I do believe we have a lot of strengths that won't be identified or labeled that I don't want to miss out on by focusing too narrowly, however. It is a great place to start, though.
Monday, September 27, 2010
September 27
Today I went to the second day of a FOSS kit training. It was Earth History. Erica and Christopher taught it. There were only three other students so I tried extra hard to be an active participant to make things more interactive (it's hard enough to have lots of people and most won't talk or take a risk). I learned a lot about Earth History, and about the vertical articulation of the FOSS kits. I really love Earth History. One thing I wish was in the presentations was career link information so we'd remind teachers to connect that to their science teaching to foster a passion for careers in science.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sept. 23, 2010
Today I met with Jeanne and Erica about the VAST website toolkits. Jeanne gave me a background on how the toolkits began, and then gave me a list of things she'd like me to do to improve the toolkits. I'm honored to do that, because it is a worthy cause which directly improves instruction, and I'm thrilled that I get to learn from Jeanne and Erica. They're both really quality science thinkers, and any time spent with them is time I get to improve my own knowledge. It was a great meeting and I believe that I understand what I am charged to do. I also felt 'listened to' when I had ideas, which makes me feel even more fired up to do things, because I feel like what I have to offer matters.
I didn't feel well at all today, which slowed me down a bit this afternoon. I did get some work done, and stuck it out until 4:30 (which wasn't easy to do with my head pounding). I feel like I did my best. I continue to try to get organized so that I can be effective and efficient. I collected information on science conferences I'll be attending, contacts I need to keep track of, registration materials and organized the toolkit notes. I also installed a printer so that I could print in the other building. I have needed to do that several times and couldn't.
I didn't feel well at all today, which slowed me down a bit this afternoon. I did get some work done, and stuck it out until 4:30 (which wasn't easy to do with my head pounding). I feel like I did my best. I continue to try to get organized so that I can be effective and efficient. I collected information on science conferences I'll be attending, contacts I need to keep track of, registration materials and organized the toolkit notes. I also installed a printer so that I could print in the other building. I have needed to do that several times and couldn't.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sept. 22
Yesterday I didn't write in my Blog because I got home very late after a Smart Board class. The gals teaching the class were amazing. They had obviously used the Smart Boards a lot as well as knowing the technology because of their automaticity in the use of them. I can see that teachers would need a lot of practice time to be able to use a Smart Board effectively in the classroom, but with that expertise would come some great lessons that would hold the interest of students in the 21st century. This is no time in the world to be afraid or unwilling to grow with technology. It's exciting, fun, efficient and amazing.
Today I went to a class about General Education Intervention Plans. I like being kept up to date on what is going on in education. I was disappointed that none of my district was there except for De Wagner. That kind of initiative will take administrative support. I hope they are going to another session of it. I like the fact that people are becoming more aware of individual needs and differences in the classroom.
This afternoon I learned a lot about filling out forms. Grant Wood has some serious protocol for going to classes or events. The science team has a lot of events scheduled for October. I think it will be an exciting month!!! I've never been to any science conferences, and I get to go to 3, plus the Washington DC Science Expo. I'm feeling very fortunate!! I had chances to go to some exciting things when I did my National Boards, and I did go to state events, but I didn't have the money to go to some of the bigger things. It is my hope that these experiences will guide me to the role meant for me, whatever that may be.
Today I went to a class about General Education Intervention Plans. I like being kept up to date on what is going on in education. I was disappointed that none of my district was there except for De Wagner. That kind of initiative will take administrative support. I hope they are going to another session of it. I like the fact that people are becoming more aware of individual needs and differences in the classroom.
This afternoon I learned a lot about filling out forms. Grant Wood has some serious protocol for going to classes or events. The science team has a lot of events scheduled for October. I think it will be an exciting month!!! I've never been to any science conferences, and I get to go to 3, plus the Washington DC Science Expo. I'm feeling very fortunate!! I had chances to go to some exciting things when I did my National Boards, and I did go to state events, but I didn't have the money to go to some of the bigger things. It is my hope that these experiences will guide me to the role meant for me, whatever that may be.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sept. 20, 2010
Today I left at 6:15 to get to Washington, Iowa for Christopher's in-service. They began with an all-staff meeting at the high school. The curriculum director told them that they'd be working on curriculum, and then the superintendent told a football story and they were done with that. Then they broke out into curricular areas and we drove to the Jr. High to work on science curriculum. Christopher gave an overview of the Iowa Core and the purpose of standards (he did a really good job) and then they had time to write in their standards and benchmarks.
I left somewhere around noon and went back to Grant Wood where I worked on my list of things to do. These included going to Human Resources to fix my name spelling problem, working on a draft of the e-mail to change the Nov.4 to 8 meeting (and sending it to Jim for approval) and talking to Jeanne about budget, calendar, going to Kansas, Des Moines and Ames for meetings and training EIE. I put the figures for grant money onto the OSO site.
Tomorrow I will go at noon and work till 7:30 (I'm going to a Smart Board class).
I'm looking forward to learning about that.
I left somewhere around noon and went back to Grant Wood where I worked on my list of things to do. These included going to Human Resources to fix my name spelling problem, working on a draft of the e-mail to change the Nov.4 to 8 meeting (and sending it to Jim for approval) and talking to Jeanne about budget, calendar, going to Kansas, Des Moines and Ames for meetings and training EIE. I put the figures for grant money onto the OSO site.
Tomorrow I will go at noon and work till 7:30 (I'm going to a Smart Board class).
I'm looking forward to learning about that.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sept. 19, 2010
Today I've been reading various websites on STEM. I'm trying to become more familiar with all the parts to the Corridor STEM initiative. I hadn't realized that the Mother-Daughter TEA that they were talking about at the CSI-OSO meeting stood for Mother Daughter TEA (Technology Engineering Aptitude) Workshop. That makes more sense to me now!! I can't seem to find the site Jeff Weld was talking about that listed the sites of this event here in eastern Iowa. I looked in my OSO minutes and didn't catch that date for the minutes (maybe I had better tape record the meeting).
I'm interested to interact with those at Washington District tomorrow. I'll have to leave early to get there by 8!!
I'm very excited about the book study we're doing. http://www.mindomo.com/edit.htm?m=821e0a820523475ba62da923f4d035c1
I'm interested to interact with those at Washington District tomorrow. I'll have to leave early to get there by 8!!
I'm very excited about the book study we're doing. http://www.mindomo.com/edit.htm?m=821e0a820523475ba62da923f4d035c1
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sept. 17, 2010
On this day I was very nervous about a teleconference that I was doing without Erica, and I knew it was important to her. I went over the EIE information. As I was doing this, Jim Thornton called on the phone and asked me what I was thinking about the exhibits we would be discussing. We seemed to be on the same page and hung up and then it was time for the teleconference. I called in, and discussed with those going to Washington what exhibits we were interested in taking with us. It was decided that we would take all of the exhibits. We pinned down what we were wearing, what we were giving away and what we would use for banners. This was going to be an amazing adventure.
After this phone call, Phyllis came in and I talked to her about Mount Vernon's science program, and Christopher came in and we talked about Washington School District. We would be going on Monday back to Washington for curriculum work on Monday. I asked Christopher some questions about the GW map and made a plan for how I could know where people worked better by making a visual. Christopher left and Erica came in. She'd evidently e-mailed me and I didn't realize it...so she had different thoughts about what I would do with my morning. I may need to keep my Outlook open on my desktop (wonder if I can make it 'ding' when I get a message). My MSN has a delayed inbox for some reason. We went to a meeting with Stacey on the OSO Website. I learned some ways to update it and how to keep the calendar up to date. Next week I plan to spend some time working on that.
I am hoping to get the ELP teacher in Mount Vernon interested in doing an EIE kit. I can't think of a more appropriate activity to do with students eager to challenge themselves and though I wish all the kids could do the activities, any kids doing them is a plus.
I think being new is overwhelming sometimes. I need to feel good at something this weekend.
After this phone call, Phyllis came in and I talked to her about Mount Vernon's science program, and Christopher came in and we talked about Washington School District. We would be going on Monday back to Washington for curriculum work on Monday. I asked Christopher some questions about the GW map and made a plan for how I could know where people worked better by making a visual. Christopher left and Erica came in. She'd evidently e-mailed me and I didn't realize it...so she had different thoughts about what I would do with my morning. I may need to keep my Outlook open on my desktop (wonder if I can make it 'ding' when I get a message). My MSN has a delayed inbox for some reason. We went to a meeting with Stacey on the OSO Website. I learned some ways to update it and how to keep the calendar up to date. Next week I plan to spend some time working on that.
I am hoping to get the ELP teacher in Mount Vernon interested in doing an EIE kit. I can't think of a more appropriate activity to do with students eager to challenge themselves and though I wish all the kids could do the activities, any kids doing them is a plus.
I think being new is overwhelming sometimes. I need to feel good at something this weekend.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
September 16, 2010
This morning I'm watching a video conferencing meeting between several AEA's together talking about a class they had led in the summer. They were sharing feedback, discussing participant performance on defined outcomes, technology and a course offering in the fall. There were 9 participants who were science consultants; How they offered the course, how many hours to offer it (evening or Saturday or summer) was a discussion. There is not money to release teachers during the school day. I'm learning about how tricky it is to get teacher training in. These consultants are enthusiastic about helping the teachers out. They also are discussing how to get the math teachers to work with the science teachers on STEM activities; They are coming up with a plan to spread the class out so the teachers don't feel like they're using up all their Saturdays They came up with four Saturdays (Dec.4,Jan.29, Feb.26, and April 16) to offer the course. They will begin the process now of reserving rooms and making final preparations.
After this video conference, we had another video conference on a possible book study. It was decided that they would,indeed, have a book study using two books called Taking Science to School and Ready, Set, Science. These two books were chosen because they were used to write the new National Science Standards that are coming out.
I spent a lot of time on the EIE kits today. I've been in contact with an ELP teacher that I think might like to use them. I need to find out more about how much they cost to check out and how they get trained.
After this video conference, we had another video conference on a possible book study. It was decided that they would,indeed, have a book study using two books called Taking Science to School and Ready, Set, Science. These two books were chosen because they were used to write the new National Science Standards that are coming out.
I spent a lot of time on the EIE kits today. I've been in contact with an ELP teacher that I think might like to use them. I need to find out more about how much they cost to check out and how they get trained.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Sept 15, 2010
I received an e-mail this morning from a teacher in Mount Vernon thanking me for putting their FOSS kit questions into a packet that kindergarten could more easily use. I connected with some of the other kindergarten teachers last night and told them that was coming. I love using technology to make classroom work more efficient.
This morning I worked on things like understanding where the EIE kit we were working on fit into the curriculum, what the pedagogy behind it was and how I could articulate that to the committee deciding which activity would be the best to represent at the National Science Expo. I also brought up a science curriculum question I had to Erica and Julie that I needed help understanding in order to solve in my mind how the FOSS kits worked into a science curriculum and how Grant Wood works with a district to guide them in the curriculum review process. The probes were new to me. I have so much to learn, and I am really hoping that Mount Vernon uses Grant Wood as it goes through their curriculum cycles. They are reviewing their science curriculum this year.
I went to Washington, Iowa this afternoon with Christopher to learn about the process of getting ready for an in-service which is Monday and also to align the science to the Iowa Core. I was really impressed with the principal there because he spoke of studying the curriculum in more depth than some do, and had a good understanding of science (he had been a science teacher, so that is a big reason why). I got to meet Nancy Clawson, who is one of my Grant Sites, and it was especially nice to see her in this role, because I could see how she values 21st century skills, and how they integrate literacy, and how they work as a science team in Washington. She was impressive. Christopher has a soothing voice and a calm manner that carries his wisdom into a meeting in a way that would be appreciated if I were the district needing his help. He taught me about how to stay in the role of Grant Wood and how to help without being intrusive. I like the way both Christopher and Erica explain things to me. They are both very gracious in helping me (which is so humbling). I am very, very fortunate.
This morning I worked on things like understanding where the EIE kit we were working on fit into the curriculum, what the pedagogy behind it was and how I could articulate that to the committee deciding which activity would be the best to represent at the National Science Expo. I also brought up a science curriculum question I had to Erica and Julie that I needed help understanding in order to solve in my mind how the FOSS kits worked into a science curriculum and how Grant Wood works with a district to guide them in the curriculum review process. The probes were new to me. I have so much to learn, and I am really hoping that Mount Vernon uses Grant Wood as it goes through their curriculum cycles. They are reviewing their science curriculum this year.
I went to Washington, Iowa this afternoon with Christopher to learn about the process of getting ready for an in-service which is Monday and also to align the science to the Iowa Core. I was really impressed with the principal there because he spoke of studying the curriculum in more depth than some do, and had a good understanding of science (he had been a science teacher, so that is a big reason why). I got to meet Nancy Clawson, who is one of my Grant Sites, and it was especially nice to see her in this role, because I could see how she values 21st century skills, and how they integrate literacy, and how they work as a science team in Washington. She was impressive. Christopher has a soothing voice and a calm manner that carries his wisdom into a meeting in a way that would be appreciated if I were the district needing his help. He taught me about how to stay in the role of Grant Wood and how to help without being intrusive. I like the way both Christopher and Erica explain things to me. They are both very gracious in helping me (which is so humbling). I am very, very fortunate.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
September 14, 2010
Today I went to the Wood and Paper kit training for FOSS kits. This unit is designed for kindergarten. They had all kinds of hands-on activities. I was most impressed with the way they showed different kinds of woods, and after showing them particle board and pressed sandwich board they actually made some! The materials in the kit even included strainers so that they could get the wood shavings wet to see how they would behave when wet. I'm pretty sure there are adults out there that don't understand how these are made, and the kindergartners will be able to use the understandings gained from this kit to build even further understandings as they see things that they now have a place to attach in their brains. Veneer, and wooden puzzles, and wooden toys will all look different to them now. They no longer make paper in this kit, but we talked about how that can be done so the teachers can easily extend the learning to include that.
The teachers were wishing they had a packet and I offered to make it if they wanted me to, so I made them a packet of the things they requested be put together as such. I e-mailed it to the ones that wanted it (which was all of them). This can be put in the toolkit when I learn how to work on it.
I'm back at 6th street this afternoon since we got out of the workshop working on my 'to do' list. I took a calendar to Janine's office and ran off a list of the EIE kits for my notebook.
I made a record of what VAST kits Mount Vernon uses and what grades check them out. I sent this list to the Gifted and Talented teacher in Mount Vernon along with the EIE kits that compliment each unit in case she might like to use those for ELP activities. I also sent her a link to the YouTube video of Erica, Jim and me doing the "Catching the Wind" activity to give her an idea of what they are like.
The teachers were wishing they had a packet and I offered to make it if they wanted me to, so I made them a packet of the things they requested be put together as such. I e-mailed it to the ones that wanted it (which was all of them). This can be put in the toolkit when I learn how to work on it.
I'm back at 6th street this afternoon since we got out of the workshop working on my 'to do' list. I took a calendar to Janine's office and ran off a list of the EIE kits for my notebook.
I made a record of what VAST kits Mount Vernon uses and what grades check them out. I sent this list to the Gifted and Talented teacher in Mount Vernon along with the EIE kits that compliment each unit in case she might like to use those for ELP activities. I also sent her a link to the YouTube video of Erica, Jim and me doing the "Catching the Wind" activity to give her an idea of what they are like.
Mount Vernon
I received a nice thank you e-mail from one of the teachers in Mount Vernon. When I went to the training they were attending last week (Water) I noticed that they wanted a booklet like the one Cedar Rapids had available so they didn't have to hand out each activity. I went to the FOSS website and did a 'print screen' on each page and pasted them into a Power Point in order, and made a journal page (lined) to go in between each one, and made a cover. They have LCD projectors, so they can even show the Power Point one page per activity as they direct the students. I love helping people be more efficient in the classroom. I know the value of that from the other side. I also made a story starter called, "My Life as a Drop of Water" so the kids would have a venue for applying their knowledge of the water cycle through creative writing.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sept.13, 2010
Today I went to one of the FOSS kit trainings called "Balance and Motion". This kit was aimed at 2nd grade, and it was very interesting to hear the differences between how the second grade kit is different than the middle school kit I listened to last week on Environments. The kit was amazing, and included work with balancing, spinning, and rolling. The work with physics at such a young age not only gives students a great beginning in thinking of the physical world, but also sparks their interest in science (it was really fun). The trainers did a great job and I learned more about the FOSS curriculum.
Erica and I met on Skype later on, and we worked on the Google Site for OSO. I also sent a letter out of the OSO minutes from the Sept. 8 meeting.
I spent Sunday getting my work more organized so I could understand better what I'm doing. Organization is really important when you're new to everything!! I need to think in a whole new way (from that of teaching in the classroom) and there is a learning curve here for knowing what I'm doing. I'm so not used to being lost. I have so much to read and understand.
Erica and I met on Skype later on, and we worked on the Google Site for OSO. I also sent a letter out of the OSO minutes from the Sept. 8 meeting.
I spent Sunday getting my work more organized so I could understand better what I'm doing. Organization is really important when you're new to everything!! I need to think in a whole new way (from that of teaching in the classroom) and there is a learning curve here for knowing what I'm doing. I'm so not used to being lost. I have so much to read and understand.
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