What is Equity?

During the first week of the equitable classrooms course, we were each asked to come up with our own idea of what equity is. The responses were varied, but what seemed to stay consistent is that equity is a much broader topic than we all anticipated. When I first thought about what equity is the first thing that came to my mind was fairness. Within a classroom fairness relates to following through with consequences, providing each student with the same opportunities, grading student work using a consistent scale and devoting time to check in with each individual student. Certainly, those are all components of what equity is, but it goes beyond that. Chapter eight of Sharon J. Lynch’s book, Equity and Science Education Reform, highlights what is expected of the teacher in order for an equitable classroom to be established. Lynch emphasizes the importance of a teacher having “a sound understanding of the nature of science, science concepts, science themes, habits of mind, and process skills, especially as the grade levels of the students increase.” With these understandings, teachers are better able to engage students in “doing and talking” science. Lynch then goes on to mention how important it is for teachers to continue to better themselves as educators through professional development. The best way is for teachers to collaborate as they “take time to think about standards, to contextualize them in terms of their practice in their schools, and to have examples of effective curricula aligned with the standards.” Of course Lynch recognizes that ongoing professional development takes a substantial amount of time and costs money, which may not be that easy for some school districts to implement on a frequent basis. As teachers take advantage of opportunities where they can learn from others, they are learning strategies to better their own teaching styles/methods. This, in turn, is one step closer to creating an "equitable classroom" environment; something that all teachers should strive to achieve.

All Good things Come to an End

It is finally here, the end of my first graduate class online. It is bitter sweet like most endings of great adventures. I will miss the fun and creative projects that Steve had us working on, I will miss seeing the creativity of my fellow classmates, and I will miss the weekly chats with my classmates. Yes, there is a new adventure on the horizon, but like finishing a good book I just want to sit back and reflect on how much I enjoyed it. As I packed up my portfolio to send, my husband commented on the large pile of work. Funny, it did not seem like work. I look through the pile and smile at how much I learned and truly understand how to do. As was reiterated many times throughout our class, project-based learning is the way to own the information and to be able to use it later. When will our state and federal governments stop the insanity of testing so that we can get back to being great teachers and the students can actually learn something useful?
I learned so much through trial and error in this class. Yes, it was frustrating at times, but like anything you work hard at; the reward was great in the end. Students need to have that feeling of success. They need to see the product of their hard work in a physical form. Self-esteem and self worth is elevated when a visible result can be seen. Project-based teaching encompasses all types of learning styles and intelligence levels so that an individual's gifts and talents can be used and further developed. I have believed in this technique in teaching from the start of my career. I owned and operated a successful preschool for nineteen years that used a unit study approach(old term for project based) with great results over the years. Children learned and loved learning because it was fun. I home-schooled my two children through the elementary years so that education could be fun. Testing was not the focus in either of those teaching experiences. As a teacher, you know when your students understand the information. When students can show you what they learned and use what they learned, there is the proof that the teaching was successful.
A new adventure will be starting soon for me with another graduate class. I am looking forward to learning something new. I can only hope and pray that a new adventure begins in the public school system soon. So many great teachers are losing heart and drying up. So many students are not learning how to love learning. Students are losing that sense of adventure that can come with new information. There is nothing bitter sweet about that, just bitter.

Pulling It All Together

Our Earth Science knowledge was put to the test this week as each group focused on a different river than the Nile, either the Colorado or Amazon, and had to answer certain questions. The questions covered a variety of topics, such as where the river flows, watershed boundaries, discharge, precipitation and changes in seasonal patterns surrounding the river. Each group member was responsible for responding to a different question. My question pertained to discharge in the Colorado River and its tributaries. Prior to taking this course, I would not have known where to begin to answer this question. My studies of the Nile River have provided me with a solid foundation of how river systems work as a whole. In the upcoming week our assignment is to create a story about how the interacting components of the river we are investigating work together. I am looking forward to seeing how everything comes together.

On the curriculum front, we have been putting the final touches on our TfU (teach for understanding) plans and have started implementing them within our classrooms. More specifically, we have been focusing on performances of understanding, which are designed to help students develop and demonstrate their understanding. Within our generative topic, we were challenged to devise a variety of performances that show student understanding in an observable way. It is stressed in Tina Blythe’s Teach for Understanding book that they are learning activities and not final events. Each assessment is placed into one of the following categories; introductory, guided or culminating. Introductory performances are at the beginning of a unit and invite students to begin “messing about” with the issue/topic. Guided inquiry assessments are in the middle of a unit and focus students on particular problems related to the generative topic and understanding goals. Culminating performances are at the end of a unit and require students to pull together their understandings developed in previous performances.

We, as teachers, then ask ourselves; how do we know what our students are learning? On-going assessment is the answer! They are crucial and can be done in a variety of ways. The key word is on-going. They may be formal, informal, teacher lead or student lead. Students may even critique/reflect on their own work. Teachers informally assess their students frequently, but are not always consciously aware they are even doing it. For example, floating around the room and checking in with the students as they participate in a lab is an informal way to assess how the students are progressing. We sometimes get caught up in grades and forget that there are other means of assessing how our students are doing.

Rain on the East Coast

A recent storm in Eastern Massachusetts dropped more that ten inches of rain in certain areas. Winchester, Quincy, Waltham and Newton are just a few of the towns that were severely affected by the excess rain. Many schools and businesses were closed due to flooded streets, as well as any damage the water may have done to the buildings themselves. The Aberjona River in Winchester, the town where I currently teach, flooded the surrounding land and streets. Our middle school was closed Monday and Tuesday of this week and the high school remains closed until the water, which is half way up the walls of the basement floor, recedes. Today, one of my students told me that he saw someone canoeing in what is normally a soccer field. Another student could only see the roof of a car almost fully submerged in water. Although the rain has since stopped and the sun is now shining, the cleanup is not anywhere near finished.

By now, you may be wondering why I am sharing this experience with you. This unfortunate occurrence is a good example of how the Earth Science course has made me more aware of my surroundings. Prior to taking this course, I probably would not have given this event a second thought. What connections can I make to what we have learned so far? Winchester, as well as the towns mentioned above, are lower in elevation than other surrounding towns. The rainfall in the towns higher in elevation eventually makes its way down to the towns lower in elevation. It can be said the towns higher in elevation are part of the Aberjona River’s watershed. We learned that a watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. In Winchester, this “same place” is the Aberjona River.

We have been working our way down the Nile River and as of recent have been focused on the Aswan Dam in Egypt. Using our knowledge of the river system so far, we were asked to anticipate what we think will happen to that part of the river in the next 1,000 years. Our group’s responses were quite varied; however, we all seemed to agree that the water in Lake Nasser, just before the dam, is going to be greatly affected. Some of us thought that as sediment continues to settle in the lake, it will become shallower and force the lake to become wider. Others thought that as the water continues to flow into the lake, it will make its way around the dam and form tributaries and streams and eventually the lake will be gone. It is a tough job to project 1,000 years into the future, but we do our best given the information we are given. As we continue to move downstream, our next focus is on the Nile’s delta!

The Other Side to Being a Teacher

As I have said before, this online technology class is showing a whole creative and fun side to computers. I feel like I am allowed to play like a child. I have watched grown men in my class get excited with these projects when they build truss bridges and place cars on the bridges and make them crash. It is like seeing a four year old boy with with his trucks. I am able to teach them the different uses that the programs can perform. What joy!
Unfortunately, teachers in the public schools are having to cut back on fun due to some of the NCLB regulations. Our online class got to vent our frustrations about the craft of teaching becoming a testing factory. The goal always being keeping jobs and schools open according to the test results they produce. The government is becoming so entrenched in producing little robot children that can score well. How unfair is all of this? Are we all meant to be the same? Isn't variety and differing gifts what makes this world work? Do we really want a "Stepford Wives" world? In order to prepare for testing the fun and creativity is being forced out of the classroom.
Last week I read an article which reported the changes that Obama wants to make in regards to NCLB. Initially it sounds good. As with everything we will have to read the fine print to know for sure. He seems to propose that not every child should have to perform on the same level. Some children have creative abilities which will lead them into productive lives that do not involve higher education. Our goal should be to prepare children for the world no matter their goal. There is also talk of federal funding which sounds like it will increase competition among states to receive the funds. So, it sounds good in some respects and so not good in others.
I guess we will have to wait and see. In the meantime, I sure do hope that those great, fun and creative teachers don't shrivel up from all the test preparation and boring lessons.

The Weather Outside Was Frightful...

I'm sure that by now you have probably all been made aware of the crazy weather patterns that have been hammering away at the U.S. Well, last week, my family and I experienced mother nature's wrath firsthand in NH. On Thursday night during the most horrifying wind storm I have ever witnessed, the power went out along with the heat, water, and flushing toilets! I panicked. I was freezing, it was dark, and I had...oh no, what was I going to do about my two five page papers that were due that evening? I can't even flush my toilet let alone submit my Week Four Self Assessments. Thankfully, all it took was one quick email to each of my professors (from my in-laws house in MA, of course) and my mind was put at ease. Both of my professors were so understanding about my situation that they actually were more concerned about my anxiety to complete my work than me actually submitting the assignments. They asked if everything at the house was ok because they had heard about all the tree damage. They completely reassured me that I could do the work whenever and not to worry. Where else in the world can you go and get that kind of support and patience? I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to learn under such wonderful professors at Lesley who recognize that above the idea that we are students, we have lives too.

Student's Perspectives

As teachers, we put a lot of time and energy into planning lessons and units for our students. We collaborate with other teachers to expand on our ideas in the hopes of providing positive and effective experiences for our students. How often do we ask our students what they think the most important pieces are to their science education and why? Personally, this is not something that I do frequently with my students. With that being said, I recently devoted a full class period to “interview” my students about their thoughts and insights regarding our science curriculum. I was very pleased with their responses and felt a sense of satisfaction in all that we have accomplished so far this school year. After reflecting on the year thus far and using that information as our foundation, together we devised over-arching understanding goals for our class. As Tina Blythe mentions in her Teaching for Understanding Guide, I explained to the students that over-arching goals relate to what they think is most important for them to learn by the end of the year. After revising our list multiple times, we posted them in the classroom and will revisit and refer to them throughout the remainder of the school year. Each unit we cover relates to at least one of the over-arching understanding goals.

Within each unit covered, Blythe mentions choosing Generative Topics – those that are central to the discipline, interesting to the students and teacher, allow access to resources, and offer opportunities for students to make connections between themselves and their experiences in and out of school. The students were quite enthused as we listed the main topics and labs we have covered so far this year. This gave me clues as to what the students were most interested in, which will now assist me in developing generative topics.

In session five, we shifted our thinking back to the Nile River. Our focus was on the precipitation, drainage (how much water flow there is) and cloud coverage of a specific region along the Nile – Dongola. This particular location is surrounded by desert where there is zero precipitation all year and so the question remains; where does the water come from and when does it come? Each group member analyzed the data presented and put together a convincing case to answer the question. Similarities and differences existed within our thinking; however, we were all able to come to an agreement that there is a direct correlation between precipitation at Lake Victoria and Lake Tana and the drainage at Dongola.