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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)