Happy First Day of the 2016-2017 School Year!

Audience: All STEM Waukesha Staff

Happy First Day!

We sincerely hope you take the time to enjoy your first day with learners tomorrow and continue to let us know how we can be of support. Our learners are lucky! 

We want to leave you with this short video message (awkward!) and the following thoughts (below), that were shared with us recently, from the blog: The Thinker Builder.

Your Night-Before-the-First-Day-of-School Pep Talk

You were made for this moment.

Scratch that.

You were made to make moments. And tomorrow you begin.

Tomorrow, you begin the first series in a collection of moments. Not all will be happy. Not all will be engaging. Not all will be rigorous. Not all will be noticed. Not all will be remembered.

But some will be.

It will be a blur, tomorrow. You are going to try to get too much accomplished. That's okay. Go ahead and try. But in the midst of whatever you accomplish, just remember to make a moment for each child.

One for each will do for now.

A warm smile from your eyes. A small request by name. A wink. A shared look, that says hey, we're in this together. A bit of positive feedback. A short conversation about family. A gentle word of encouragement. A sly smile that brings someone in on the joke.

Let go of the worry that everyone needs to get to know each other right away. It's the first day of school, not the only day of school. It will happen. Take it slow.

But do tell them about you. Share stories with them. Normal stories. How you were feeling the night before, for instance. Tell them about your family. About your summer. About your favorites. About your thoughts during your drive to school.

The act of telling a story does more than just tell a story. It builds trust. Community. Honesty. Comfort. Realness.

So do it. Often.

Be confident. Make clear decisions. Even if you are winging it and you in fact have no clue what is the best thing to do in that moment. Even if it ends up being the wrong decision and you have to reverse course and make a new decision.

No waffling. Students don't mind being led in the wrong direction temporarily. They at least feel led.

Don't be too critical of how the day unfolds tomorrow. Don't judge it too harshly. Those kids will be coming back the next day regardless. Let it be what it is. The first series in a collection of moments.

Taken all together, it's not going to be easy.

But you can do it.

Because you were made for this moment. Each one of them.

Take care,
Talk soon,

Curriculum Map & STEaM / Inquiry Big Rocks

Audience: STEM Waukesha Teachers

We are in the business of heavy lifting.  We lift learners to new heights through our coaching and support.   We lift each other with our sharing of practice and feedback toward excellence.  We have worked hard to lift the learning experience...a learning experience like no other opportunity in our our district.  You have earned a gold medal in weightlifting for the work you have done over the last six years, three years, summer, and even over the last week!

This blog will launch a conversation around the learner experience in STEM Waukesha.  We will explore ways to build a learner experience that exemplifies STEM in the lives of the young people we are so fortunate to call our kids.  In this space we will begin the work of articulating our instructional vision for STEaM, Math and Literacy, we will dive into examining equity, mindsets and community impact, and we will turn our BIG ROCKS into a strong foundation of practice while we build a community of teachers who are learners and leaders.

So...here we go!  We begin with a look at frameworks for thinking about our STEaM/Inquiry Experience.  Linked below, you will find two core documents and some highlights to note.  We will take some time to dig deeper into our understanding of these tools this week as we gather to kick off our school year.  In the meantime, take a look and let us know what you think.  As always, feedback isn’t just welcomed, it’s required, and we expect the conversation to include examples of these practices alive in your learning environment.

STEaM / Inquiry Big Rocks

Several years ago, we framed our STEaM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Application, Math) experience around the Buck Institute’s Core Components for Project Based Learning.  We were fortunate to have teachers attend seminars facilitated by representatives from the Buck Institute. Teams built their science and social studies learner experiences around this project based approach to learning.  As we continue to evolve our thinking, we have pulled out the pieces that are crucial to our STEM Waukesha experience in hopes that we can simplify the planning process for teams of teachers while we are enhancing the groundwork that began three years ago.

Hawthorne STEM Curriculum Map

STEM Randall Curriculum Map

Within the two year experience that each learner has at each level, we want to make sure we are purposefully planning both the content and context in which they learn.  Mapping the different domains of learning around one common essential question ensures we are building an integrated experience where learners will be able to transfer the learning to the world around them and to future learning opportunities.  The linked map provides the overarching essential question as well as the suggested topics and units of study for science, social studies, literacy and math.  Whenever connections can be made within or between grade levels, we deepen the potential for understanding for our learners.

We look forward to lifting an engaging, intentional, responsive learner experience with you all this year. Thank you for the time and energy you put into making Hawthorne STEM and Waukesha STEM Academy - Randall Campus outstanding environments for our learners to grow.