May

I went to an orientation meeting for Camp Invention Directors.  There is a lot to learn and to absorb. I'll be meeting with my teachers and camp parent this week to update them on what I learned.

Today we have a Project Day at GWAEA.  We will be sharing what innovations we have been working on in the form of display tables in the conference room.I have mine mostly set up, and in about a half-hour from now I will take the technology downstairs to finish the set-up.  I have no idea what to expect as far as visitors.

I continue to get a lot of clarification questions on deadlines and bills.  Carla Green has been so wonderful to work with when I need help on the business end of the grants. 

April Continued

I have been busy making site visits and working on the final report, as well as Camp Invention and the Final Showcase event.  The invitation list for the showcase takes a lot of time, because people change in their job roles, so a list from last year is not necessarily still valid.  I checked and rechecked principal names, and superintendent names, and added people from CSI-OSO, and had many, many changes in other categories as well.  The list was checked by Jeanne, and parts by Jim, and checked by Deb Johnson, as well as Kim Martin.  Each eye that viewed the list was helpful in some aspect.  I had Jenny Becker check the Rockwell names, and the IMSEP gang checked their realm. Finally, the invitations went to print. 

I met with Kim Martin, who was very helpful in telling me what we do to get the final report done.  I hadn't realized  how that should be organized, so I spent time on that so that it would be a work in progress that wouldn't sneak up on me as a colossal surprise at the last moment. 

I'm going to a Camp Invention training for directors tonight from 5-8.  I'm hoping that this is helpful in showing me the big picture of what I will be pulling together.  I visited Yukiko's camp, but the nuts and bolts of it are interestingly unfolding.

Yesterday Jim and I drove to HLV, which is quite a drive.  We met with Joy Dolmage, who is an amazing hero to me (as all these sites have).  She is a first year site, so we carefully went over the procedures for filling out her final report and how to get reimbursed for expenses  before the deadline approaches.

Another thing I am working on is Monday's Project Day at GWAEA.  Staff will be sharing with each other what they are working on for the agency. I will be sharing a STEM display. I am also looking forward to learning from the other displays.

Final Preparations

  The two main events that require a lot of time for me right now are the Final STEM Showcase and Camp Invention.
   The Final STEM Showcase will be held on May 19.  Jim told me that this would require a lot of time and that TIR's in the past of mentioned what a lot of work it is, so he told me that I'd want to get started on it.  The first thing I did was to dig into the computer files to find clues as to what I needed to do.  I printed off what I thought would be valid, and began working on the invitation list, which is quite extensive.  There are 136 people on the list to invite.  This list is being checked by those at Rockwell, Jeanne, Jim and then I am also using the online District Directory.  We added several categories of people to attend, such as math consultants and curriculum directors.  After this list is finalized I will send invitations. I'm waiting to hear if Jeanne wants Save The Date invitations first.
  The second event is Camp Invention. Camp Invention has a big binder that I'm working on getting through. It is full of procedures as well as programing.  I have a meeting today with my camp parent and my on site teacher to touch base on our registration numbers (which are at 16 so far)  and see if there are any questions they have.

  I met with Jim yesterday.  He wants to meet personally with the new sites as well as a couple of the old ones to go over how to write the final reports.  It is such a pleasure to work with someone so thorough, organized and knowledgeable about everything.  I'd have to say he's the highest quality administrator I've ever worked with directly. I have started setting these meetings up, and have two responses confirmed.  I just love it when people do things right!

Using the Science Assessment Probe after EIE

I asked Erica what the very best assessment would be for me to use with teaching science. She suggested Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, More Formative Assessment Probes, by Page Keeley, Francis Eberle, and Joyce Tugel.  I found the one related to Earth Materials, which was the FOSS kit I was teaching at Garner.  So I gave the probe before teaching the FOSS kit, and then again after the FOSS kit.  I also gave it once again after teaching the EIE kit.  I would love to have more time with the students after uncovering what misconceptions still exist, such as that coral is a rock, but I did learn a lot from doing the probes.   The fact that coral is one of the common fossils found in Coralville (near where many of them live), creates an easy misconception that it is a rock. A discussion on that matter needs to take place. This is one reason that using formative assessment correctly requires teachers to have plenty of time for science in order to include time for the curriculum in addition to time to address misconceptions with more than a sentence. I wish I could go back and address some of the misconceptions they still have.
  These are the results of the probes at each stage of teaching:

 

The probe I used was called, "Is it a Rock?" version 2, page 157, Copyright © 2007. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volume 2: 25 More Formative Assessment

Probes, by Page Keeley, Francis Eberle, and Joyce Tugel. Published by NSTA Press.

    The reason that doing the EIE kit increased so much understanding was that one might not have noticed that in studying rocks and Earth Materials that students could not distinguish between what was a rock and what was a mixture made from earth materials such as rocks.  Cement, for instance, is thought to be a rock by a majority of the students. When they did the EIE kit they tested sand, soil and clay for their properties and determined whether these properties were sufficient to make good mortar (and found that they aren't). They then discovered, through the process of Engineering Design, that these very materials had different properties when combined, and that in combining them they could make better mortar (i.e. less breakage and more stickiness). Testing these material designs increased their understanding of the difference between what a rock is and what mixtures containing earth materials are. This was a higher understanding than the important concept  the FOSS kit was aiming at, which had to do with rocks being made up of minerals and that minerals have different properties such as color, texture and hardness.  This expansion through adding the EIE kit provided for 'digging a little deeper', if you will, and to my surprise addressed misconceptions I wasn't even intending to address.  I had been interested in the STEM application, the engineering process, and the real-world connections.  Now I understand that I also "uncovered student thinking" and addressed common misconceptions by adding Engineering is Elementary Curriculum to compliment the FOSS kit while teaching science.  It was a great opportunity for all!

IMSEP at the Capitol

Today Jim and I went to the Capitol to showcase the STEM grant projects and to lobby for continued funding.  We had a good day with legislators coming through and we were able to tell people about what the sites are doing with the grant money.

February

I've been busy these last few weeks with teaching at Garner, visits to grant sites, preparing for IMSEP Day at the Capitol and finishing two projects that Jeanne asked me to do (one with STEM career video tapes and the other with EIE manual inventory).  We had a long science team meeting, and Grant Wood AEA is having a very hard time with budget cuts causing people to get pink slipped.  I have no idea exactly what is going on because no one talks to me about it, but there is tension.

Jim and I went to Hiawatha and enjoyed the program there. One teacher was sick, but the one that was there was just amazing. She was doing an EIE kit called "It's a Long Way Down; Designing Parachutes".   She had nearly 30 students and she had complete control in addition to humor (which is a great combination).  They were quite impressive.

We also went to Clear Creek Amana.  That STEM club was working on Lego Robots, and a couple of young ladies also wanted to show me their lego city project.  They then showed me how they could build with Lego's on the computer.  I showed them how to download 'Google Sketch-up', which they hadn't seen, and I think it may take them to a higher level of architecture, which is their aim.  Jim and I were impressed with the amazing students in this club, as well as the teacher. There was also a student engineering major volunteering his time to this club. It was great.

Iowa Braille School

February

I wanted to mention in my last post that I had a great surprise from Erica and her husband. She took a huge burden off my shoulders by having her husband cut the blades for all the Franklin windmills out of balsa.  She has been a lifesaver this past week as things piled up on me. THANK YOU, Erica, and Mark!!!

February started with the storm of the century.  Driving home from North Liberty was quite an adventure on Tuesday.  It was 25 miles an hour all the way home, and of course my Garmin didn't know the weather was bad so it took me through the 'Roads Less Plowed'. School was canceled the next day (and in Chicago for the first time in 12 years).  I worked at home on Wednesday, and now Thursday.  Garner doesn't have science on Thursdays, and the schools in my area are all closed.  I have a lot to do, and working at home is a great way to hole up with the computer and concentrate.  I also have some work to do on materials, so my husband is unloading my car into the living room so I can do that. I've been gathering things like a scavenger hunt for teaching at the Braille School on Saturday.  I haven't had a chance to print off the plans and go through them to make sure I have it all straight.

January

January started off right away as a busy time.  The first week of January started off with doing an in-service for teachers on a FOSS kit named Ideas and Inventions.  I was doing this training with a teacher who had never done the in-service, and at the last second we were told that we'd have an 'observer' there to learn about FOSS kits.  I would feel much more comfortable doing a training if I'd taught the kit before.  Because of this, I needed to over prepare in order to feel confident.  The teacher co-teaching this had taught this kit in the classroom, and was quite good at sharing her ideas, so it turned out well.  Erica added some introductory pieces about the assessments and everything went fine.

I went to the Braille School to meet with Sara Larkin.  We're doing a set of 3 camps on Saturdays in February and March.  The kids come from all over Iowa and she sets up a science day for each of the weekends.  We are going to teach them about renewable energy.  The first one will focus on wind. I'm going to start with a hand-crank generator from an old wall phone to show them  how turning a coiled wire inside a magnet can generate electricity. I am rigging up a buzzer, since the demonstration usually uses a light bulb to show it working. Every little thing has to be altered so that blind students can learn it.  Then I'm taking a set of electrically wired windmills from Franklin Middle School to give them an idea of how wind can turn the 'crank' instead of our hand. Then we will do an EIE kit called 'Catching The Wind' to experience the engineering process and how windmills can do mechanical work (lifting a bucket in this case).  We will finish off by going to Clipper Wind Energy to feel the length of a real wind turbine blade that is lying flat on the ground and having a tour. That's just the first camp.  Whew. I still have quite a bit of materials work to get everything together.  I have collected most of it.  I had Mary get some doorbells from her shed and I need to test those on the generator and the wind turbines. They are at 33rd.   Sara is transferring all materials to Braille.


The second week of January was quite a hectic one.  Erica and I taught an EIE Kit training to about 12 people.  This group included many grant recipients interested in using the kits, a  Cedar Rapids Science Station worker, an ISU Extension Office worker, and a classroom teacher interested in infusing engineering into her science. This training preparation was intense, as we wanted it to be hands-on and a great base for using all of the EIE kits with a good understanding of the engineering process.  Luckily, Boston Museum had just added a couple of things to their website that helped me figure out how some of it worked.  I would have felt a little better if I'd been trained by the Boston Museum in order to do such an in-service, but I spent a lot of time studying it and preparing for this in-service so that I could be as sharp on the topic as possible. The things they added to the website that helped me were some 'how-to' videos on certain procedures that were complex, such as the logistics of the sail raft design.  This skill will transfer when I go to use it at the Braille School, too.  The teachers seemed to be enthusiastic about the EIE kits, and I know that as the United States turns toward more STEM education, that this day will serve as a garden from which many STEM seeds were planted and will serve as the basis for fractals of STEM in which will "LEAVE" many new planted seeds.
  After we quickly cleaned up we had to drive to Iowa City for a CSI-OSO meeting held at the University of Iowa School of Engineering.

  My top priority is to my after school STEM programs. I went to another Grant Wood Elementary Science Family Night in Iowa City.  This time I asked Erica to go with me. I would love to find even more people to go help out at this event, because it is one that requires a lot of helping hands.  This program is done by one of our Grant Recipients, Lisa Hall, who is my new hero.  She has dinner served for the families, which I'm sure increases attendance.  I want to post some pictures and videos I took of the activities, but I'm waiting for the video permission slips to be in.  I was grateful for Erica's help, and we enjoyed interacting with the kids on Lisa's amazing projects.  She has 4 activities going at once in the gym.  Ours had to do with a lunar delivery in which a module had to be designed to deliver a load (marshmallows) to a lunar target from the ship. The kids had materials with which to build this module, and it was to slide down a fish line, tilt and drop the load without being touched (by using something to stop it on the line at the right spot, and a trapdoor to open with a string and something to tilt, such as a straw or another string, to pour the load when it was over the target. The students worked hard to design these contraptions, and not many got it all the way to success, but they learned a lot trying. Even something as simple as getting the module to hang from the string was a new endeavor for many. I want so badly to share these videos and pictures with the other sites so that all these great activities can be visualized by others who are looking for ideas.

I went to Washington, Iowa (which is quite a trip) to see their after school program. They are another grant site, of course, and they are doing the EIE kit Marvelous Machines. I liked the way they had a lot of teachers in the room (four, if I remember correctly).  I think the more help people have the better things go, because there is a lot of hands-on learning and a lot of excited students.  The management was great, which helped the students focus on the tasks at hand.  They were learning about the engineering design process the day I went, and each group was given a task to plan out with a machine, such as one to sink a ball into a basket.  I do have their permission slips, so here is a synopsis of Washington's STEM club from that day:

I want to share this video with one of my other STEM sites because that teacher is having a great deal of difficulty with controlling the behavior of the kids. There are some great examples of how that is done within this video.  I also think it shows other STEM sites how they organize their instruction time, materials and activities, and also how the students are engaged in the design process.    I think the more they can see each others' activities the more they will be able to envision ways to do their own.

Speaking of the teacher who is having difficulty, I had gone to her after-school program once, and there were big problems with behavior.  Erica was with me, and we talked to her afterward about how she was feeling, and luckily she asked for help on ways to control them.  Erica asked if it would help if I came and modeled ways of controlling behavior, and she said that it would.  So the next week I went and tied the lesson (dealing with traffic control) to the class' behavior. I read things they had said during the lesson the last time they had met. They had said that the traffic problems they were trying to design a solution for made it so they were unsafe. They had said that the people driving couldn't focus.  They said that there needed to be more enforcement of the laws.  These were a perfect tie-in for the behavior discussion.  We went back over their agreed upon 'rules' for STEM.   We talked about the things that I had seen last time that were unsafe (and I"m afraid there were, indeed, things I saw that were unsafe).  I told them that their teacher had received a grant for them to learn with wonderful materials and that she was chosen out of many other teachers because she had such a great proposal.  They began to look at the STEM club in a different way, and I told them that I knew they were worth the money spent on this club because they were going to be the future science, technology, engineering and math career workers of our country.  They behaved perfectly after that for the teacher's well-planned STEM activities. Afterward, I spent till 6 in the evening listening to her frustrations with controlling behavior. I had brought some techniques with me to share with her, and I left them with her.  She cried a lot, and my heart just goes out to her.  Sometimes, even with mentors for new teachers, we don't support new teachers as much as we could.  I'm not finished worrying about her, that's for sure.

One of the other things I have started is teaching a science class at Garner Elementary School in North Liberty.  This is a brand new school, and because of that, the students have come from different 'feeder' schools.  One group has become out of sync with the curriculum by having had the unit 'Water', which Garner will be teaching, and not having the science unit 'Earth Materials', which all the other Garner kids have had.  Because of this, Jeanne was brainstorming solutions to this problem and came up with the idea of me doing the Earth Materials unit with the class.  I will be going to Garner for six weeks to teach this unit. The good things about it are that I really love teaching Earth Materials (which I have taught in my fourth grade class in MV), it is in a brand new classroom (amazing), and the class has 16 kids in it (OK, now if this could just be the way it was for all teachers everywhere).  I will add an EIE connection to test how it can be used in connection to its corresponding FOSS kit, and that will be my first EIE teaching with kids (I will be assisting and EIE unit in Mount Vernon, but they haven't started yet).

Here are some pictures of the amazing new classroom at Garner!

January 25, 2011

Today was one of those days when I think I'm in the wrong place. I don't think that what I have to offer is matching where I am, and I really am struggling with the fact that I gave up a classroom that I spent years putting together and I was good at what I did.   I see Yukiko struggling with being put into a grade level she didn't want, and I have a feeling that could be what will happen to me too.  I thought this would be such an exciting year, and it is becoming a string of pressure and feeling that I don't belong.  My stomach hurts with stress, and I really wonder what I was thinking.

I'm going to try to focus on being grateful that I have a job next year, and I will try to apply what I have learned to helping students.  I need an iguana hug.