This blog is set up to give STEM Academy families tools to think about learning in positive ways both in and OUT of the classroom.
This month our family focus is on gratitude. I’m grateful to work at the Comstock STEM Academy. I’m going to give you a little glimpse into some of the awesome things happening around our school. Truly showing gratitude starts with recognizing the benefits we receive from others and then it results in an outward action to make your work, home, & physical environment better.
Last night was a board of education meeting that started with two students on the world champion Stryke Force First Robotics team talking about their experience. A sophomore said when I saw the score, and I saw we were world champions I started shaking and I couldn’t feel my legs. The sense of pride and excitement was palpable. Teachers were honored for the impact they have on students by receiving excellence in education awards. A speech language pathologist shared a moving testament to how the school district, the superintendent, and her staff supported her this past year. I left the board meeting feeling blessed to be a part of this school district.
I walked around the school with six families yesterday and talked with them about why our school is a dynamic exciting place to send their child to school. I shared our vision of giving students a solid academic foundation and fostering a love of learning. We visited a middle school science class that was getting ready to dissect sheep hearts. Students were “gloving up,” and donning their lab coats and goggles, a third grader on the tour cringed a little, and the 5th grader stood up a little straighter and leaned in, in anticipation. I asked, “Do you want to see the heart?” His eyes lit up. In kindergarten students greeted visitors with a smile and talked about how much they like recess, hot lunch, and math. First graders were reading books, and working together in learning centers. Second graders were busy sharing the data they collected from a walk to Morrow Lake, and debating if a tree that grows in the water was a land plant or an aquatic plant. Third graders were learning about geometry and discussing polygons. A shy preschooler told one of the students I can draw a cube, and the students said, “Wow that is pretty hard, I can only draw a cylinder” We walked into fourth grade and I thought the students were taking a test. The teacher said we just read two stories, one about “The Case of the Missing Necklace” and the other about “The Case of the Missing Homework.” After reading the source articles students were full of ideas they wanted in include in their rough drafts titled, “The Case of the Missing Hamster.” 5th graders were mapping out food webs, and debating if plants ate sunlight, or how did they get their energy? Visiting the art classroom Mr. G. took a freshly fired first grade flower out of the kiln. It looked like a new species of purple, glassy, hibiscus.
Last week after school 40, 3rd through 6th graders from Let me Run, and Girls on the Run ran a practice 5k in 40® and rainy weather. We were soaked, and we had a blast. Many students ran further than they ever have before. Parents and coaches ran, or cheered in the rain. I’m grateful to encourage, and run with our teams.
Throughout the day teachers work to excite, encourage, and challenge students and that doesn’t happen by accident. Behind the scenes teachers come in on weekends, during the summer, and in the evening (two of them missed board recognition because they were at school planning and prepping for the next day). They bring papers home to grade and plan once their own kids are asleep, and the dishes are done. They spend their own money, or work extra to write grants and go to the public library to fill their rooms with books, and resources to provide opportunities for students. They shove food in their mouth in 15-20 min by the time they drop their students off at recess and warm up the leftovers they brought for lunch. I was a teacher for 10 years before I became the director of the STEM Academy, I know. Teacher thank you for all you do to make the STEM Academy an exciting place to go to school!
This month let’s recognize and appreciate the benefits our kids receive from their teachers. Let’s show them a little love and tell them they are appreciated. Write them a note, bring them an apple. Smile and say thanks.
To learn more about gratitude watch this 4 minute video from Dr. Robert Emmons of UC Davis.
Dr. Robert Emmons of UC Davis talks about Gratitude from Character Lab on Vimeo.
Here is an article from Harvard Ed. Magazine. It resonates with me as I have meetings with parents who say my child is bored... and I reply as my mom used to reply to me if I ever dared to say that forbidden 5 letter word, boredom is a personal problem, go out and play, climb a tree, read a book, catch frogs in the creek.
As I walk around the STEM Academy, most days I see engagement, excitement, and challenge. Lets continue to put the responsibility for learning to students, the responsibility for engagement to students, but lets also strive to show them how the work we engage in is relevant. Encourage your kids, preteens and teens to rise to the challenge. Work hard even when you don't feel like it. Feel the sense of satisfaction that comes from doing the right thing when no one is watching. Reading this article helped me add tools to my education tool belt to support teachers, students and parents.
From the article “We have to stop seeing boredom as a frilly side effect. It is a central issue. Engagement is a precondition for learning,” he adds. “No learning happens until students agree to become engaged with the material.”
"“If you see human potential as a bell curve and there are only some kids who are going to be great and most kids are mediocre, then engagement really wouldn’t matter,” Rose says. “But if you really believe that all kids are capable, then you would build environments that really worked hard to sustain engagement and nurture potential.”
"Rose adds that high schools rarely take advantage of an adolescent’s cognitive development. Teenagers “take on identities; they’re more socially oriented. This is the first time when abstract ideas can be motivating. They become more politically engaged and think about things like justice. Yet we’re still keeping them in the kind of education system... that wants nothing from them in terms of their own ideas. School has already decided what matters and [what it] expects from you. It’s like an airplane: Sit down, strap in, don’t talk, look forward. Why would it be meaningful?”
The beauty of relevance, Rose says, “is that it’s free. If you’re an educator or curriculum developer, and you saw your responsibility to ensure every kid knew why they were doing what they were doing, you can do that tomorrow.”
"But the biggest shift we need,” Rose believes, is much more elemental. “We need to get away from thinking that the opposite of ‘bored’ is ‘entertained.’ It’s ‘engaged.’” It’s not about pumping cartoons and virtual reality games into the classroom, it’s about finding ways to make curriculum more resonant, personalized, and meaningful for every student. “Engagement is very meaningful at a neurological level, at a learning level, and a behavioral level. When kids are engaged, life is so much easier.”
Ms. Anderson the 2nd grade teacher at the STEM Academy shares this video with her students.
I'm encouraged and excited to lead a building that values engagement, and works to meet the needs of ALL students. What are ways you battle boredom? How do you encourage your child or student to stay engaged?
-Mr. Chopp
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