Africa's Weather? In Indiana??

Imagine my surprise today when I checked the weather online and saw we might get a tropical storm. Here? In Indiana?

We have had lots of rain and some flooding, but not to the extent that the Wabash had flooded North River Road. I decided to look at the satellite image on the page to determine just when those tropical storm conditions might affect us.

 Only I didn't even recognize the area the map was showing. It wasn't Indiana, though!

 A zoomed-out view showed me that a map of Africa's western coast had been posted for Indiana!

Just to be sure, I looked again to see that I had clicked for my own weather. I even refreshed the feed, and the same information about Africa and tropical storms came up again.

 Look at the elevation and the geographic coordinates - Wunderground.com is certainly having issues! (Interestingly enough, as I clicked to see my kids' weather via Wunderground.com, their weather reporting was accurate.)

An hour later and I still have Africa's map and a tropical storm notice up.

I wonder if the folks in Africa are seeing a map of Indiana?

SLED - Some Reflections

My week at SLED (Science Learning through Engineering Design) on Purdue's campus was exhilarating. I love to learn, I love to think, and I love to reflect. Kind of fun to be the student again and getting to do all that!

The SLED leaders and teachers who attended. I'm seated on the bench to the right in the photo.

During the week, I met a lot of people and made connections/friends with teachers who have shared interests. One of those was Philippa Clymo, a 5/6 teacher from Tasmania who had received a Hardie Fellowship to study STEM learning abroad for two and a half months. (She is keeping a blog of her experiences; the link is here.)

With her permission, I have some quotes from her blog that I have wanted to think more deeply about.

Physics and earth science are pretty easy to integrate with engineering design tasks, by their very similarity. I wonder whether the process is so applicable to many of the biology, chemistry and space sciences. There are some SLED units for these, but I reckon they may not really help with quite a bit of the Australian Curriculum for those subjects.

Or the American ones, either. While what we did this past week was enjoyable and I learned much about engineering design, I, too, wondered about how the process could apply to other sciences. So, as an example, I looked at my unit on Oceans where so many things are wrapped into one - ecology, environments, ecosystems, water systems, tides/gravity, marine life, and so on. It is a very broad unit, so perhaps adding in the design aspect will not be so hard (I am thinking about the lesson plans they gave us on erosion which would dovetail nicely.) 

But what about chemistry? Where the focus is on the experiment and manipulating materials looking for a desired outcome? There are no lesson plans from SLED for that, and I have not been able to think of any. So the SLED process may not work for all aspects of science learning.

My biggest concern as the week rolled on, though, was that it seemed that the design process was overshadowing the science inquiry part of the learning. Philippa had similar concerns.

I had an interesting talk with Brenda Capobianco, Co-Leader of the SLED program, about the balance between engineering and science in the SLED units, and she explained that engineering is a recent addition to the Indiana curriculum, so there’s been a conscious aim when developing the units to support teacher learning in engineering by focusing on this part of the SLED activities. Perhaps in Tasmania, where engineering is also only just being added to the Australian Curriculum, we will need to do the same for a while. However, I know that many teachers are still lacking confidence and skills in teaching science, despite its having been in the Australian Curriculum for nearly four years. So perhaps a case should be made for supporting both areas equally. I would argue that for science to be taught well teacher knowledge and understanding still need to be a prerequisite even though engineering is also being introduced.

Absolutely! Now, if I can speak out of the OTHER side of my mouth, in the SLED staff's defense, I do understand that they have time constraints in which to disseminate the process to the teachers. And, the design process is newer to most of us than scientific inquiry. It's possible that, had we met for longer than a week, more of the inquiry process would have been taught and modeled. 

Similarly, it’s interesting to consider the place of design and inquiry in the SLED resources. The former is given the major profile, and the latter is barely covered. Science understanding (content) is covered, but there’s little in the SLED units that would support the Science Inquiry Skills substrand of the Australian Curriculum, or the Science as a Human Endeavour substrand. Again, I think this is partly because of the aim to support the newer engineering curriculum in Indiana. However, I wonder if it’s also partly motivated because the design process is more concrete and accessible as an idea than the more complex and abstract idea of hypothesis and fair test. Maybe it’s therefore easier for teachers to grasp intuitively and use? Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should not teach inquiry – on the contrary, I believe you can’t teach or understand science without it. But it may be harder than teaching and using design practices…

This is an excellent point. Teachers are squeezed for time, trying to get everything in that must be taught. At times it is quite a struggle. If something that must be taught is more easily presented a certain way, it is logical that a teacher use that option. With that in mind, I can see the scientific inquiry portion overlooked. And that, in my opinion, is not a good direction. BOTH the inquiry and the design process are critical components of the learning process, and neither should overshadow the other in importance.

Now my task is to apply what I have learned, keeping these insights in mind, and working to ensure that both aspects, the scientific inquiry as well as the engineering design, are incorporated and given equal weight.

SLED Days 4 - 5

Thursday
Thursday we were given oodles of time to curriculum map our science plans for next year. We began with last year's sheet (Cindy had attended) and added things in that we felt had been missed or that we felt the students were weak in and would need some review.

The maps showed the grade level above and below ours so we could see where the children were coming from, what we were to teach, and the skills they would need for the following year's science lessons. Very helpful.

Cindy and Kris had already done some mapping over at Hershey (for all subjects, not just science) and they sent me their document via the computer. So helpful to me! I can see what the other 4th graders in the building are being taught and when, and I can also modify it for my own two year curriculum.

I had an outline of what I teach when with me, so it was simply a matter of plugging it into the document. (I will go back and add details; for now, there was not time to do more than a big picture sort of outlook. Plus, I did not have my materials with me for a more detailed outline.)

SLED's "curriculum map" - an outline of what we would do each day of the week.

Friday
Friday was full of wrapping up details. We had to submit two lesson pans as well as a rough idea of the time when we would be teaching the required two SLED lessons. (One per semester.) We also had an overview of the paperwork we would need to complete so the kids could participate in the SLED activities.

Cindy, me, Lisa, and Kris by the sun sculpture (which I absolutely LOVE!)

There was a SLED participant group photo at the sun sculpture, and then Dr. Christy Fraley, TSC assistant superintendent, took a group photo of all the TSC teachers in attendance - about two thirds of them!

After a small ceremony where music was played and we received a certificate and an unexpected gift,  it was time for farewells and final pictures.

Kris, me, Philippa, and Cindy. Such a wonderful group of educators - I learned from each of them this week.

SLED Days 1 - 3

I have been attending SLED (Science Learning through Engineering Design) this week at Purdue University. (Lisa is going, too; a double treat!) Already I have learned a lot about incorporating STEM activities into my lessons.

The weeklong seminar is free with breakfast and lunch provided along with a binder of material, five days of working with Engineering and Science professors, access to a web site with science and technology lesson plans aligned to Indiana's standards, PLUS I get paid $1000 and Hershey receives $950 of science/engineering teaching materials of our choice!

SLED is a grant project that is working to improve STEM learning in schools and studying the best ways to do that. For my part, I will teach two units that I received this week to my students and then write up a report on them for the research project.

Win-win, from my point of view.

MONDAY
Monday we began with an overview of what we could expect in the coming week, filled out some papers, and then got to work. Our first project? An experience with engineering design and real-life use.

Philippa Clymo (an Australian here on a Hardie Fellowship studying ways to teach STEM) and Cindy Yeater, 4th grade teacher at Hershey, explore bracing.

Our first task was to design and build a cell tower to specific dimensions. Materials to use included newspaper. The tower had to be able to hold a one pound weight and to withstand "wind" from a fan for thirty seconds.

 Cindy, Kris Sharp (also a Hershey 4th grade teacher) and Phillippa work on our design.

Lisa and her team nervously look as the weight is added to theirs in the testing arena. (The weight represents the satellite dish on the tower.)

There were sixteen teams, each working on their own design. Sadly, ours collapsed after only three seconds of weight  bearing!

TUESDAY
A quick debriefing and then we were back to work again. This time, our first task was to build a wolf trap to catch a wolf that had gotten into a construction zone. We had to incorporate two simple machines into our design.

 Philippa and Kris, hard at work, and having fun, too!

Our finished trap with the cut-away side so you could see it work - and it did! We used several inclined planes, a lever, and a pulley in our design.

 After the failure of our first project yesterday, we were quite thrilled to have succeeded!

The afternoon brought a new engineering challenge. We studied drag and the were tasked with building a boat to specific final measurements AND one that was s-l-o-w.

 Yes, there is a boat under all those plastic plates.

 Philippa anxiously watches as the professor preps the boat we will be racing.

Professor Pantich used her cell phone as a timer. Nine seconds! We won - we were the slowest boat! We "raced" boat after boat, and were named champion slow boat.

 In fact, the boats raced so much that the water level was down two inches by the end of the racing.

They refilled the tubs, we did our final race, and were crowned champions.

WEDNESDAY
The routine was, by now, familiar. An overview of the day, and then a task to complete. Today's topic of study was sound.

Cindy and Kris.

 We began by playing with tuning forks and the old fashioned cup and string method of communication (which worked!)

Then we moved on and were asked to design a musical instrument to certain parameters. (As the seminar has gone on, the tasks have become more difficult.)

 We had to play our instrument for the group, and we even sang a song for the SLED attendees. The tune? Three Blind Mice.)

Three deaf teachers.
Three deaf teachers.
We can't hear!
We can't hear!
We made an instrument as we were asked,
And played it and really had a blast,
But we can't hear it.
We can't hear it.

Got some nice applause for that one!

After lunch, we had our most difficult design challenge of the week thus far - designing and creating a door alarm.

It was HARD. Our materials (wire, an alarm, battery, and paper clip) did not want to work together. But finally we got everything to work, just as time ran out for building.

 Philippa, Kris, and me with the door alarm.

Two more days of this conference - I am learning a lot and having a blast while I do it!

My First Hershey Class Graduates

My first class of multiagers graduated from Harrison High School today, and I was lucky enough to be in attendance at Elliot Hall on Purdue's campus.

 There were twelve of them who were 5th graders in the first 4/5 class. Ten graduated today, one graduated from West Side last week, and one I have lost track of and do not know where she is.

We had excellent seats with the graduates in front of us.

There were thirteen Valedictorians, and Georgia Lawlor was one of them.

She's the tall girl in the middle.

The former multiagers who are 2015 graduates are:

Anna Collins

Spencer Davidson

Heidi Etter

Jake Fernung

Georgia Lawlor

Matt McConnell

Emma Penix

Sydney Richter

Dakota Robles

Cassidy Routsong

Steven Deckard (West Side)

Anjelica Junkin (whereabouts unknown)

Congratulations to all the graduates!

A Reflection on Teaching

In my opinion, being a good parent is the most important thing I could do in my life. Second to that? Being a good teacher - if I cannot be at home with my own children, then spending the day learning with someone else's kiddos is what I want to do.  I have been blessed to be able to be both parent and teacher.

At the end of our two years together, tears are shed and hugs are shared, and the children trot off to new adventures at East Tipp. I miss them, terribly, and hope that they remember what they learned during our time together as teacher and student.

I remember them like this - short, young, and child-like.

 Me with SJ at this year's 5th grade graduation.

As the years go by, some keep in touch via social media or pop over from East Tipp occasionally to say "hello." (That is always a treat.) Many I never hear from again, although I do often hear through the grapevine if they are having academic or athletic success.

A special few, though, keep in closer contact and even invite me to milestones in their lives, such as graduation from high school.

Georgia Lawlor, me, and Sydney Richter. The girls were 5th graders in the original 4/5 class at Hershey. Georgia invited me to her graduation party and spent some time with me during it, chatting, showing me her artwork and knitting, and catching me up with her plans (Purdue, engineering.)

Spencer Davidson, another original multiager, also invited me to his graduation party. And it was what was said at that party that set me to reflecting this evening.

Spencer and me.

Spencer was a great guy who had much going for him in 5th grade. So much so that I really did not think I had touched his life much. But he felt differently, and he and his parents shared some things with me of which I was unaware, things they felt I had done that changed him and made a lasting difference in his life.

As a teacher, you hope you helped the child, both during the year or two they were in your class, and down the road. Sometimes, as I did today, you are lucky enough to hear just what effect you had on someone. And that is what has given me pause today, even made me feel unsettled.

I am grateful to the Davidsons for their kind words, and will continue reflecting on what was said today at Spencer's party. But as I think of that, and how I had not even realized what Spencer was feeling, I feel subdued and sobered.

It is no small thing to be an influence, a mentor, to a child. 

Make New Friends...

The old Girl Scout song about friends goes,

Make new friends,
But keep the old!
One is silver
And the other gold!

There's a lot of truth in that song.

Yesterday, I took some "new" friends to Urbana to meet with some "old" ones. And it was a blast.

Loni, Lisa, Bryn, and I went over to shop at Nancy Muncaster's quilt shop, Sew Sassy.

 It's located in Lincoln Square, and has been very successful.

I didn't really shop, aside from buying a packet of needles and a quilt pattern. I spent all my time chatting with Nancy! She called Bob and he popped over from campus - he's still teaching and has been Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the College of Math for the past four years.

It was great to see Bob and Nancy again - our friendship goes back to the early 1980s and they were the breeders of our first dog, Duffy.

Their son, Brant, had given Nancy some fancy quilt decals for her car. She was so excited to show them to me.

 I noticed they had the same license plate letters they'd had since we first met. That made me smile.

After we paid for our purchases, I suggested we lunch at The Courier Cafe - my second time there in a week!

 The place to go when you visit Urbana, that's for sure! As soon as I walked in, I saw two teachers who had taught 5th grade at Leal when I was teaching at Yankee Ridge. I only knew them by face, not name, and so just smiled at them. Then, Becky Gordon walked by! I taught her kids, Kristi and Nick. We're Facebook friends, but still, it was fun to grab a quick hug.

I treated Lisa, Loni, and Bryn to a plate of The Courier's famous Skinny Dippers - they loved them!

After lunch we all had ice cream treats - mine was a hot fudge sundae.

It's always a bit poignant for me, going home to Illinois. When you live someplace for twenty seven years and raise your kids there, there are so many connections and memories. I miss those. Terribly.

But, as the song goes, I have made new friends, and judging from yesterday's experiences, clearly have  kept many of the old.  Call me blessed.