Making Connections with STEM Fall 2021 Cohort 8: Week 8

Week 8

As we wrap up this course, this week we'll ask you to consider how can you be a STEM role model.

Read: Blog / 4 Ways Every Teacher Can Be a STEM Role Model

Reflect: Post your response to the prompt below by Monday morning.

We recognize that there are many reasons for enrolling in a book study for STEM clock hours, and that some of you may have begun this class wondering how the content could be relevant for your life and your professional context. This week, we invite you to imagine ways that you could begin to see yourself as a STEM role model for your students, no matter how STEMish your title is. Even if you do not teach science, technology, engineering, or math, how might STEM thinking find its way into your work? What steps, large or small, might you take personally or professionally to help broaden your students' understanding of what a STEM role model looks like?

Interact: On Monday, read your colleagues' reflections and respond to at least one other post by sharing a comment, insight, or interesting possibility by next Thursday.

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Ashleigh Rocco (TSD) · 180 weeks ago

After doing the reading this week I decided to create a manageable action for how I am going to be a better role model for my students for each of the four suggestions in the article.
1)Model Passion: We already touch a lot on growth mindset throughout the year in our classroom. However, it is a great reminder that it is important to model learning something new in front of our students. Also as the teacher I know that our attitude can be everything before a lesson.
2)Transparent Humility: I think that it would be beneficial of me to let my students know about my own feeling and experiences with STEM growing up as we begin integrating more STEM into our day. I struggled with school in these areas and found little interest in it. This may open the door for more discussions with what we enjoy and what is holding us back.
3)Everyday Stem: At our school we actual have a STEM specialist class that is 35 minutes, every other week. I am making it my goal that on our stem days I will highlight a STEM story that I can find about how people are using STEM to solve real-world problems. This is manageable and will get their minds ready for their specialist teacher.
4)Stem Guests and Heroes: A teammate’s daughter is the president of the Robotics Club at the high school. I am going to reach out to see what outreach opportunities they have for coming into or video calling classrooms.
I’m hoping I can stick with these goals moving forward!

3 replies · active 174 weeks ago

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JanineG (ISD) · 177 weeks ago

You have great goals! I'm sure you will be motivated after this course to stick to them! Good luck and have a great rest of the year! By the way, I LOVE that you have a STEM specialist class at your school! That's awesome!

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Eric Richards · 174 weeks ago

I think your goals are not only reasonable but attainable with continued focus Ashleigh! Way to go and I love your passion for making it happen. I love the idea of reaching out to the local Robotics Club and high school to bring in guests. Love it!!!

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Hannah J (ISD) 35p · 174 weeks ago

Hi Ashleigh,

I love your idea of sharing your childhood experiences, I think students would find a ton of value in that discussion. I had a similar experience with STEM when I was growing up and it wasn't until the end of college that began to love it again. That is amazing that your school has a STEM specialist class! You have wonderful goals! :) Thank you for sharing!

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JanineG (ISD) · 175 weeks ago

I think the one thing that sticks out to me is to model humility. Every time I draw something for the students on the white board or under the document camera, I preface it by saying, "Ok...You know that Mrs. Greene is NOT an artist....but I do my best!" Now, the kids know that I'm going to say that and they always tell me what a great job I'm doing. So...by letting them know that when I was in 1st grade STEM wasn't something that we really learned...education has really evoloved over the years. But, I feel that thie will help them realize that some people are good and some things and others are good at other things. I also feel that STEM guests and heroes would be something that could be highlighted so easily from the parents we have at our school and also by using videos and stories about people that use STEM on a daily basis. This will introduce them to new professions and give them ideas on what they can do!
Possibilities are endless!

2 replies · active 174 weeks ago

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Danielle S. (SVSD) · 174 weeks ago

I definitely do that too when we draw things! I am not an artist but am trying my best. Thankfully with younger learners, they think stick figures are impressive. They are so encouraging when I model mistakes or make real ones.

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Erin K. (TSD) · 174 weeks ago

Janine,
Thank you for sharing a personal example of your humility as an educator. It is crucial you follow your admission with an understanding that you are putting forth your best effort. Too often we stop at, "I am not an artist". I often attribute a growth mindset to the power of "yet" and have found its relevance in extending STEM to our students' everyday lives. If our students can recognize for themselves that they do not "yet" have the solution to a problem or the most effective design model, then students see themselves as problem-solvers and can recognize that they are at least trying. Effort matters far more than success in STEM thinking and is something we must continue to promote and model ourselves. I am setting out to be more intentional in reframing my mistakes as worthwhile tries. I am doing my best!

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Danielle S. (SVSD) · 174 weeks ago

This was a nice article to culminate some actionable items we can do to encourage STEM for all students. I really connected with the example of STEM Guests and Heroes. In Kindergarten they really do well with real life examples. I've had guests come in before during our Community Helper Unit and they talked about that all year. It was a concrete example that they could easily remember and learn from. Personally I also like the modeling passion and transparent humility. I feel like half the time we as teachers are putting on a show for these students to get them excited and more "buy in." In Kindergarten we also talk all day long about mistakes, growth mindset, and trying our "kindergarten best." It's an easy way to incorporate traits that will carry on with them in all grades.

2 replies · active 174 weeks ago

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Ashleigh Rocco · 174 weeks ago

I was thinking the same thing about having people come into the classroom. I feel like any class responds well to someone new delivering information. I was thinking about reaching out to the families and staff at my school for people to come in. They are always so excited to meet someone they have a connection to.

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Stephen Elms · 174 weeks ago

I love having speakers come in and talk to the students, and people working in the STEM fields were always willing to come in when I taught in Bellevue. It's so hard these days of course with the situation we are all going through, but don't forget about the plentiful resources online that are available - some great videos on code.org that highlight a number of people from a wide variety of STEM careers - this is what I will use this year in the absence of not being able to invite them into the classroom. Just a thought.

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Eric Richards, TSD · 174 weeks ago

I think this one hits so close to home for me as I have two amazingly gifted daughters who continue to see themselves in STEM fields. My wife and I have worked so very hard to conquer the mindset that STEM isn't for "girls" that is pervasive. Both are now looking at STEM-based careers in their near future and I couldn't be prouder of them overcoming the bias and passive discrimination they have felt being women who are interested in sciences and math.

With this personalized connection to STEM with girls, I intentionally model and voice the belief that STEM is for all. I love that my class is full of gifted students of both gender and when we are engaging with science, they all have fun and are interested.

My challenge is to continue with "Everyday STEM" and keeping this field in front of all my students. How to I embed STEM into Math rotations, or into other parts of our day, not just Science. As our schools open up again to volunteers, this has to be a place where I put an emphasis on bringing in guests to the classroom. I can't wait.

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Erin K. (TSD) · 174 weeks ago

Though I am fortunate to instruct my students in the fields of science and mathematics with the support of a dedicated STEM specialist, I recognize that simply teaching the lessons and engaging my students in activities is not sufficient. In order to assume my role as a STEM leader, it is crucial I adopt the mindset of a STEM role model and exude the passion, energy, and interest required to meaningfully engage students in STEM practices. The hesitancy I have felt in picturing myself as a STEM leader has often been the result of perceiving my knowledge to be insufficient to that of a STEM expert. Ferguson admitted, "You don’t necessarily have to be good at something to be excited about it". With this new understanding, I am more willing to step out of my realm of comfort and advance myself and my students' experiences with STEM to those topics and concepts that we may know little about. Remaining diligent in my transparency about my lack of knowledge, met with an expressed desire to learn more, is an important STEM practice to model to students. My students will hopefully grow to be increasingly comfortable admitting to their own struggles as learners and seeing STEM as a field made for innovators, not perfectionists. Such a mindset can translate to other subjects, such as writing, where we expect students to take risks and create for the sake of creating. Abandoning the "false projection of teacher perfection" means I must remain cognizant of my own reaction to my mistakes and increase the number of opportunities in which I can openly make mistakes in front of my students and react constructively. Given the new learning I have accumulated as a result of my participation in this course, I am motivated to practically incorporate STEM thinking each day through the practice of humility and by actively recognizing examples of STEM in all subjects and in our everyday life.

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Stephen Elms · 174 weeks ago

A good article to sum up what we can all be doing to at least demonstrate (by having a growth mindset) that working with/in STEM and being real with your students about how much you are either into, or enjoy science, can be a valuable connection for them. Personally I love the sciences so most everything we do in our Science and STEM curriculum I enjoy working with the students and they can see my excitement and curiosity. We had fun one year by video-taping the rocker-bases in slo-motion (for their earthquake buildings) and they could see just how the entire base and building were reacting as the earthquake "hit". There are also a wide variety of people and resources on-line you can show your students where they talk about their job in the STEM field, why they wanted to follow that path, and what it took for them to achieve.
The article also reminds me to make students aware of just how wide the range is of different jobs with a connection to STEM. I am going to create a list with my students so that they can see just how far and wide the scope of jobs are that connect to STEM as I don't think even I realized some of the jobs mentioned in the article.

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Hannah J (ISD) 35p · 174 weeks ago

This article was the perfect end to our book study! It wonderfully encapsulated what we learned throughout our time together and it helped me to set goals for myself as I continue my work in STEM. Here are some goals that I have set for myself:

- Guests/Heroes: With current Covid regulations, it is difficult to get guests into the classroom. However, I am looking into different apps and programs that would allow my students to investigate STEM careers and meet local people who are in the STEM field. After meeting families at conferences, I soon learned that lots of different STEM careers are represented in our classroom. It would be fun to have a mini "job fair" so that students can learn more from other parents/guardians.

- Humility: I often call out when I make a mistake and emphasize to students that it's okay to make mistakes because we learn from them. I also emphasize a growth mindset in my classroom and push students to think of the power of "yet". However, one area that I have not really shown students this, is through STEM based activities. My goal would be to engage in the next STEM activity with students so that they can me fail and how I work through it.

- Model Passion: One goal that I have for myself is to read more STEM books, and not just for Hour of Code but throughout the year. I think through books I could start to open my student's eyes to a world of ideas.

I look forward to making steps towards these goals and continuing my journey with STEM. Thank you for everything!

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Megan Mitchell SVSD · 174 weeks ago

I was already enthusiastic about STEM in the classroom, but I feel like participating in this book story has given me tools to really commit to making it a regular part of my teaching throughout the curriculum. I love the steps this article suggests for being a STEM role model and I think anything that your students can see you be passionate about is a win for everyone. I really like the idea of also teaching students about careers in STEM through people they can relate to. Students start thinking about what they want to do for a career early on in life. Even when they’re little they are drawn to things that might prepare them for their future career. I think the knowledge they have about what careers might be available to them can be limited though. Expanding their possibilities and experience early on would definitely have a profound impact on them. I think one of the great uses for Zoom would be to reach out to STEM professionals that you could introduce to your classroom. This is something I’d like to look into this year too.

2 replies · active 174 weeks ago

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flaggna 34p · 174 weeks ago

Reaching out to professionals is a great idea. I have seen Zoom used in so many ways (art docents, author visits, morning announcements. It would be great for students to also get to speak with people in STEM fields.

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Meg H. (SVSD) · 174 weeks ago

Yes! Reaching out to professionals is a great idea and this class has been motivating for me to think outside the box. I will take this idea to school and try to collaborate with our coding teacher.

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flaggna 34p · 174 weeks ago

I will be honest. I'm not a STEM teacher. However; I do work in a special education classroom and find that many of my students miss out of amazing collaborative experiences while working in my classroom on their SDI. This is something that's always bothered me. It's something that I want to change. I want to work more on the collaboration piece. I liked in the article where it talked about showing humility in front of students. As a teacher, I often feel that I need to be correct all of the time. This is simply not true of people, and I need students to see that this is okay. My first step is to show students how to work through problems and come up with solutions. I think I will also work on the collaboration piece.

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Meg H. (SVSD) · 174 weeks ago

I really like STEM and this class is motivating for me. We took our Gingerbread stories and sent home a "Build Your Own Gingerbread House" with recycled mateials activity. They brought them back this week and shared their challenges and successes. It was fun to see the innovations they came up with. It was easy to see which houses were worked on extensively by the parents, so our next foray into STEM will be during library at school. And to have it be a group project. The nice thing about that is we can use less materials. I have no problem with humility, especially when it come to technology and the students are always ready to jump in and help.

2 replies · active 173 weeks ago

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Rachael S (ISD) · 173 weeks ago

This is an awesome activity! I love that you focused on challenges of the building process. By focusing on that part of the process for reflection, you are absolutely being a STEM role model in you class. I'm looking forward to trying this type of project myself next year!

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Megan Mitchell SVSD · 173 weeks ago

I love this idea! One of my favorite things about this (especially for the younger kids) is incorporating the writing and the engineering together. I did a miniature house project with recycled materials my first year of teaching and the kids loved it so much. I don't think they even realized how much STEM was happening.

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Rachael S (ISD) · 173 weeks ago

I think being a STEM role model means showing the "failed" attempts. So much of our trial and error is invisible to students. My kindergarten students are constantly saying, I can't draw that like you can, or I can't read like you can. It is important to verbalize when I don't know something or when I make a mistake. More than just showing that to students I need to be explicit about what happened and how I feel. "Oops I made a mistake in my project, but the glue has dried. If I rip it off it will look a little messy, I'm worried about that. BUT I think it's more important that I show my best ideas in my final project, so I'm going to fix it anyway." My kinder students are little sponges and go home repeating much of what I say in class. I want to put that to good use!

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