Final ImagineIT Report
The dilemmas book allowed me to reflect on some of the dilemmas that I have had in my own teaching and rethink how I approached those when I was a beginning teacher and how I would now approach them as a more veteran teacher. It also allowed me to reflect on ways that I could possibly help other teachers in my department or school with dilemmas they have been having. I now try to also make sure that my classroom is an open space that other teachers feel comfortable visiting in order to create an atmosphere to of trust amongst the teachers in my department. My hope is that by building an atmosphere of trust amongst the members of my department, it will also open up trust in conversations and allow for colleagues to engage in conversations about dilemmas they may be having in their classrooms as well.
The focus group and teaching demonstration were helpful because I thought that I had my STEM for girls club all figured out, but then the students had other ideas. I met with many of the upper class students and at this current time they are less focused on “playing with math” and more focused on getting into college and deciding what to major in when they go to college. The students were very vocal in expressing their interest in more of a club to explore STEM based majors and careers and less about having fun with the math. My meeting with my colleagues was extremely eye opening. I met with the female teachers from the math and science department. I speak to the women in the math department on a regular basis, but the all of the women in the science department had different connections I hadn’t heard of and also had ideas for field trips. We discussed the idea of implementing a club where the focus is on “playing with math” but the college majors and careers are weaved into what we discuss and come about organically. Between my implementation report and now I have realized that starting a club is hard! There are many factors that I did not think of from the number of activities these students are involved in to the effect that our later start this year has had on extra curricular activities. It’s also difficult for students to commit to weekly meetings because of their other extra curricular activities and I need to make sure that I do not depend on the same group of people showing up week to week. Looking forward, I am planning on making sure that my club is one that allows for students to come either weekly or once per month in order to make sure that all students feel welcome. I also want to look into some different field trips that I may be able to take these students out of the building to see how their “playing with math” would be able to help them when they go to college or picking a career. |
Implementation
I have so many great ideas of what I want to do with my STEM group for girls, but that seems to be the problem! Every time I find myself online these days it is always looking for ideas to implement in my group, but not actually ever implementing anything. I have a great group of girls that have so many ideas, but just need some direction. In order to provide that direction I have bought a Squishy Circuits kit and will be introducing these to them after Thanksgiving break. I am going to encourage the girls to do some research of their own on these circuits over break and then we will convene as a group in the week following to "play" with them.
I have also been toying around with the idea if I want this group to be more student run or teacher run. Although I let the girls make the decisions and let the group run based off of their interests I worry that they will not be able to take complete ownership of the group based on their prior commitments and study workloads. For now I am happy taking the lead, but do not want them to view me as the idea generator, but only as the means of implementing their ideas. I hope to have pictures and a Twitter page up and running after Thanksgiving break and will post all of those updates on this page as soon as they happen!
I have also been toying around with the idea if I want this group to be more student run or teacher run. Although I let the girls make the decisions and let the group run based off of their interests I worry that they will not be able to take complete ownership of the group based on their prior commitments and study workloads. For now I am happy taking the lead, but do not want them to view me as the idea generator, but only as the means of implementing their ideas. I hope to have pictures and a Twitter page up and running after Thanksgiving break and will post all of those updates on this page as soon as they happen!