Dream It 2 Updates - February, March, April

My Dream It project has changed.  Originally I was going to help teachers to see how engineering can be cross curricular and can be taught in all subject matters.  However, after realizing our school  was at a place that needed different supports, I changed my Dream It project to focus on how I could help build up the science capacity of my teachers and coach them as they taught science.

I am the science lead for our science priority team and we decided to conduct our first science learning walk.  The purpose of the science learning walk was to gauge where our teachers were with science.  It was great to see evidence of science being taught and the different ways that teachers were teaching science.

During the school year, our Science priority team regularly met bi-monthly.  We discussed ways to implement science, how to help our teachers with science and planned our first ever Science PD, and first ever STEM Family night.   We also made the decision to opt in for our NWEA Science assessments for 5th - 8th grade.  We were able to get Fall, Winter and Spring data to get a baseline of where are students are at.   I also met with the grade level teachers on a rotating basis at grade levels.  For grade levels that needed science planning time, I met with them after school to plan and write lesson plans.  

One of our goals as a science priority team was to attend the National Science Teacher Association’s annual science conference to gather ideas and learn about different science content.  It was my first science conference and it exceeded all my expectations!  It was amazing!    I was able to bring different ideas back to my school to share with my colleagues.  One great takeaway was the Pets in the Classroom grant.  I was super excited when two of my teachers applied and won the grant!  Now we have one guinea pig in 1st grade and will be getting another guinea pig in 2nd grade!!  Another awesome take away is being able to secure Scholastic Science Magazines for my Kindergarten through 5th grade grade levels at a reduced rate from attending NSTA science conference.  I am excited that we will be helping our students with science through science literacy!

Finally, I was able to help my teachers as they worked on teaching science.  Besides helping by ordering supplies and class observations,  I was able to help our teachers work on building their science learning and best practices.  I fell short in the amount of time I dedicated to this, and plan on working on this for best year so it has a bigger place at the table.  My goal is to work on my coaching skills so I am confident next year.