Science Saturdays

    It was the Saturday morning of Spring Break. I finally had the opportunity to sleep in and get a well needed break from the stresses of college. My deep sleep was rudely interrupted at 9 am sharp by a bright blue-eyed blonde haired girl who decided it was time to wake up! My 5 year old sister, Alyssa jumped on me yelling, "MEGANNE ITS TIME TO WAKE UP ! TODAY IS SCIENCE SATURDAY!"
         Ah, Science Saturday the most wonderful Saturday of the year. I had the luck of coming home every weekend that it was Science Saturday at our local library. A little before 9:50 AM I piled my sister, Alyssa and my 7 year old brother Jacob to the car. They were brimming with excitement. As we drove to our destination I began to grill them about school. Alyssa was now in Kindergarten and Jacob was in first grade. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that they were growing up so fast. 
     "So Jacob and Alyssa, how is school?"
            "Good."
    "What's your favorite subject Alyssa?"
          "Ummm I don't know"
     "Jacob?"
           "I'm really good at math, but are we there yet?"

That was the end of our conversation. As much as I wanted to learn more about their school day, the last thing they wanted to do was talk about school on a Saturday morning. Once we got to the library, we walked into a big room where they held all the Science Saturdays. A woman dressed in a lab coat warmly greeted us.
   "Hello I'm Barbara! Grab a carpet square and sit on the floor please."
Jacob excitedly grabbed a carpet square and sat down as fast as he could and Alyssa was a little more timid, but she eventually sat down.
    Barbara chimed, "And Parents can sit on the chair on the side."
I wondered if this was just a general statement, or did she really think I was the mother of a five and seven year old? Brushing it off I quickly sat down. More kids and their parents filed in even at 10:20, although it officially started at 10:00.
   They topic of the day was Space: The Great Frontier. They learned about the planets and stars and she taught them about Supernovas. A Supernova is what happens when a star dies and explodes. All the children were so curious and so engaged. One little girl raised her hand nice and high. Barbara exclaimed, "Do you have a question?"
     The little girl responded, "No, but I need to tell you something. DID YOU know that Jupiter has a huge storm that has lasted over ONE THOUSAND YEARS!"
   She was so excited to relay her knowledge and Scientist Barbara just brushed her off, and continued her monologue about supernovas and the rules for the activity.
At this point I was getting a little annoyed with Barbara but I let it slide. The children ran to the table to start their first activity. Each child had a cup filled with water and dish soap and a straw. The instructions were to take the straw and stir the cup and then put the straw against the table and blow until you created a huge bubble that exploded, hence when it explodes, it resembles a Supernova.
   Unfortunatley, Jacob didn't quite understand the directions, and honestly I didn't understand the directions all that well either. Barbara used her words to explain the activity, but she did not use a physical example to show the kids how to do it. Next thing I know Barbara is yelling,
   "Who's child is this??" Pointing at Jacob. "He's going to get bubbles in his mouth, he needs help."
I quickly ran over, and instead of blowing bubbles on the table, Jacob blew his straw into the cup, until he had an overflowing mountain of bubbles. I showed Jacob what I thought was the correct way to do it.
   " Here, you take the straw, and stir and then you put the straw on the table and blow slowly."
 I did it once to show him, and his face lit up!
    "WOAH! That was SO cool!!" he exclaimed.
 I chucked and helped him for a few supernovas until he got a good handle on it. I then heard Barbara exclaim, "Oh look, he's doing it the right way now."
    I was kind of offended by Barbara's attitude. Her instructions weren't clear and she was acting as if Jacob was a very incompetent toddler. Yes, he is the small and the same size as Alyssa, but he is a first grader and very smart. And no, I'm not just saying that because I am his sister, he is very intelligent for a seven year old, especially in math. There were other kids sitting at the table that didn't quite understand Barbara's instructions either and who needed help, and I couldn't help but wonder if she could have handled the whole entire situation differently. Yes she was a scientist, but I wondered if she had used smaller words or talked slower, or even showed a demonstration, then maybe Jacob wouldn't have gotten bubbles in his nose.
    I wondered what would happen if there was an ELL student at Science Saturday, would he get bubbles in his nose too?

Jacob and Alyssa at their first Science Saturday circa 2017

Disconnect

   It has been almost two weeks since I have seen my student. We are in the midst of public school break, and we will only have one day to meet before my spring break starts too. It feels as if there is some disconnect. My student, whom Im supposed to be tutoring and learning from seems farther away than normal. I feel like I have missed so much, in the span of two weeks. And when we meet again this Friday, I know I'm going to be so lost, because projects and assignments are ever changing.
   If I feel lost, and I don't even have assignments to do, I can only imagine how the absence of a high school student affects their learning. What is absence doing to our students?
   Growing up, I NEVER missed school. Actually, I was the rare type who hated missing school, for fear of missing something important. Do our students have this same outlook? or was I just an odd one.
      I am not sure how many days out of the week, my student attends school, but every Tuesday and Friday morning when I am there, he is there. While absence might not affect my student directly, it's a topic that I feel I should make an effort to know a little more about.
     John Hopkins School of Education in partnership with Center for Social Organization of Schools, did a case study on Chronic Absenteeism in the United States. This study focused on 6 key states including, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska and Rhode Island as key points of data.
     The case study defines Chronic Absenteeism as missing 10% of the entire school year; or 18 or more days. "The six states reported chronic absentee rates from 6 percent to 23 percent, with high poverty urban areas reporting up to one-third of students chronically absent."
     This study suggests that high Chronic Absenteeism is most prominently found with low-income students; and is not based on gender or race, but simply socio-economic status. The students who need school the most are the ones who absent. The case sums this up perfectly by saying,
       "Because students reared in poverty benefit the most from being in school, one of the most effective strategies for providing pathways out of poverty is to do what it takes to get these students in school every day. This alone, even without improvements in the American education system, will drive up achievement, high school graduation, and college attainment rates." 
     Missing school matters because school is an opportunity for students to thrive despite the odds that have been put against them, no one can take away your knowledge and that is why school is so important. 
       The study suggests that 5-7.5 million American students enrolled in public schools are not attending school regularly each year. The study concludes by reiterating that there is a strong correlation between absenteeism and academic achievement. To tie into this, poverty is also a huge factor in chronic absenteeism. The study ends with saying that the most effective way to close the achievement gap, "will be a concerted effort to enable and ensure that high-poverty students  attend school regularly from pre-k to grade 12."
     While this does sound like a lot to ask, I know it is not entirely impossible. The study suggest a few ways that schools have done this, but on that struck me was the simple idea of rewarding good attendance. It sounds silly, and it may not have a initial affect,  but rather one over time, but doesn't that makes sense. Students like to be recognized for their successes, and attendance should be one of these because it is something that is very important and crucial to our students overall achievement.
    I'm not sure if this is a problem that can be solved right away but with engaged teachers and administrators it can be a problem that is easily  fixed. I am eager to see how the future education system changes and whether or not absenteeism will be taken seriously in our schools that are struggling with chronic absenteeism.


Link to the study:  http://new.every1graduates.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FINALChronicAbsenteeismReport_May16.pdf

SBHS ELL Departement

      As I have been working with S, I have realized the importance of a good and cohesive ELL department to support students in transitioning into the United States school system.
      On a logistical and realistic level, SBHS is following federal education standards, in their ELL program. The federal government has given the school a special formula title 3 grant in order to create an up to standard ELL program. While the school's ELL population is only 2%, the resources they do have are impeccable.
   On the South Burlington High School webpage there is a page specifically for the English Language Learners Department. On the page, their personal mission statement reads as follows:   
    “The South Burlington School District is a diverse community with students and families from many countries and around the world. It is our belief that through knowledge and a commitment to understanding and getting to know each other, our lives are enriched as well as community. To acknowledge, utilize and promote these value inherent in this diversity, and to best serve all students, we have developed this resource guide. We encourage students, staff, families and community members to learn more about our South Burlington School Community and the many ways we can support each other’s learning.”
     The page also includes contact information for the two ELL teachers who work at SBHS as well as a link to “Can Do Booklet” and “Resources for English Language Learners.”
     The WIDA Can Do booklet has in depth information on the different WIDA levels standards to work towards, performance definitions, and Can Do Descriptors for grades 9-12. For Example, An ELL students who shows a level 3 (developing) ability in Listening will be able to:



       -          Evaluate information in social and academic conversation



       -          Distinguish main ideas from supporting points in Oral Conversation.



       -          Content related discourse



      -          Use  learning strategies to describe orally



      -          Categorize content based examples, described orally.

Here are the links:

Can-Do Booklet: https://www.sbschools.net/cms/lib/VT01819219/Centricity/Domain/81/CanDoBooklet9-12.pdf



Resources for English Language Learners: https://vt01819219.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/VT01819219/Centricity/domain/81/ell_resources/ELL_Resources.html

  By working with S on every Tuesday and Friday morning I am also able to interact with the ELL teachers, mostly Mrs. W. Mrs. W’s strategies and calm coaxing with the students. When I tutor S, Mrs. W has a class in the same classroom at the same time. She is always calm and composed. She always has a clear and concise agenda of the activities for the day. She is also very hands on with her students. When she hands back assignments she goes over everything with them individually. She points out the things they did well on, and where the students need to improve. 

      She also, uses her body to act out difficult concepts that are hard to understand just by explaining verbally. I remember she was describing how when our bodies are in motion, it makes energy for the cells and she was running around the room.   

     As an ELL teacher it is Mrs. W’s job to make sure that her students continue to improve their WIDA scores and their overall understanding of the English Language.  I specifically remember Mrs. W, talking to S about his Lab Report. While his sentence structure is improving, he always forgets the letter S. For example S, would write “He wait for the bus.” When it fact it should be, “He waits for the bus.” In this instance Mrs. W had to give S some tough love. While she knows S is very smart and she knows he understands the topics, his writing and grammar skills need to improve in order for his work to truly show how capable S is as a student.

Thoughts on a Single Story

 

 Danger of a Single Story by Ngozi Chimamanda :

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story
     

                In Chimamanda Ngozi’s Ted Talk, she talks about her struggle as a writer and an African author, and the different perceptions that people have based on the story they s see. I think as a college student, one thing that I can take from Ngozi’s speech is that we tend to have only one perception of someone or something, and to look beyond that perception and realize that there are more stories than just the one we see. Often when we watch the news we only get one story.  Ngozi described how her first American college roommate’s perception of her was based on the things she had seen about Africa, Africa as a poor, third world country. Which was not how Ngozi grew up at all. By knowing the whole story, and ALL the stories we are able to have a better understanding of not only ourselves but others.
           As a teacher, I think this means to look at our students as individuals, and understand that the way they might act in the classroom is not the only definition of who they are. As a teacher it is our responsibility to not only teach but open up our eyes to the struggles that our students are facing not only inside of the classroom but outside of the classroom too. There’s always something more to it than just what we see, and being aware and open to everyone's stories is a way of helping our students, but also benefitting ourselves. Not to look down on them and pity if they are struggling, but instead we should say, “How can I help you?”and accept some of the humility. Chimamanda reflected on the fact that she only saw the young boy who worked for her family as poor and she could not see his abilities. Let me be a teacher who sees ability in my students and not the things that are holding them back.