[…]themselves in a clear and concise way. Students researched locations around the world, looking for places as diverse as the best areas to see migratory birds in South America to the most gay-friendly cities in Asia. Our implementation of proficiency-based teaching and grading has allowed us to be more flexible with our content, giving more choice to students and letting their interests drive what they are learning. This has pushed us to focus our attention on what is most essential: the skills students will be using in the future long after they have (perhaps) forgotten the content through which they practiced and developed these skills. In this new approach, we always […]
[…]say realistically, many of you will not need to know how to convert from standard form to vertex form for a quadratic function, but the process and steps you learn in order to do that are going to be important for the rest of your life. To find a relationship between the A, B, C values in standard form and the A, h, k values in vertex form uses critical thinking to propose a relationship, problem solving to figure out if your proposed values make sense, and collaboration with peers to talk about the transition; all of these skills are […]
[…]in California, where there are many Spanish speaking immigrants. Rick and Katie teach classes of newcomer students, and Kim has mixed classes comprised of native English speakers, English learners who have been in the U.S. for several years, and newcomers. Many of our students speak Spanish as their primary language, and we interact with parents whose primary language is Spanish. The possibility of communicating with students and parents in their primary language was a major motivation to study Spanish. However, we all felt that studying in a classroom setting didn’t quite work for us. We picked up some vocabulary and […]
[…]identify times they felt impostor syndrome that I realized that I felt like an impostor. I was uncomfortable making every lesson concerning gender in STEM and worried that I would use the wrong terms or that my data or anecdotes were not exactly correct. When I wanted to have students discuss a video that talked about NASA’s famous confusion with the number of tampons Sally Ride needed for a few days in space, I felt the need to ask a female coworker if it was appropriate for 11th and 12th graders. I didn’t feel qualified to talk to my students […]
[…]and empower LatinX students to succeed in STEM. Sara’s most unique internship involved working for a research group that was developing affordable solar water heaters for developing countries. During this experience, she had the opportunity to work and live in Guatemala to build and field test these water heaters. This experience allowed her to apply the science and math concepts she learned in school to a real engineering project that had a positive impact on several families. Additionally, Sara worked as a tutor in math, science, and robotics while in college and while working as an engineer. Sara will begin […]
[…]so that we can plan together,” she reasoned. Her profile to my left quickly became a familiar, comfortable thing; her spot was strewn with pictures of her two kids and husband, healthy snacks and empty bags of chips—clutter that contrasted with her incredibly detail-oriented mindset and organized, composed nature. Andrea used to sit at the far end of the table, but relocated to the opposite side of the table in October, next to Lynn. It happened suddenly, with little fanfare, after a quiet conversation between her and Lynn one lunch period—she piled up her towers of books and wheeled her […]
