haha I forgot to introduce myself: Lori, from Atl. It's about 85 degrees today and pollen count is ridic! I teach 6th/7th sci. I LOVE the tropical skittles #scitlap
Ooh ooh I love the topic of #STEM learning space design! I’m a huge fan and evangelist for Dr Sapna Cheryan’s work on ambient belonging for women and POCs in STEM environments! #scitlap
A.2 You know, As I have become more and more experienced (read OLD) I have learned to use QUIET to speak very LOUD. Usually students will diffuse the situation without going to DEFCON RED.
#scitlap
A2 May sound new wave hippie, but I'm fairly honest with my feelings to Ss. "I feel this way because.." I try to keep that open dialogue so we can relate to each other. #scitlap
A2 When "red" arises staying calm is helpful The best way to build Rapport & relationship is to keep off the emotional side & work together for a solution #scitlap
A2) A common tactic is "please go get a sip of water" (although SO many Ss bring their own water bottles, I have to alter the request sometimes) #scitlap
A2) is the “R” relationships? Much easier to hear criticism or bad news from someone you think believes in you. That’s why I started positive-emails-home... one of best tactics I learned for parent teamwork. #scitlap
Q2 Ss asked to take a walk, go get a drink, stretch. A little humor. Show understanding & tolerance & give time. However rarely happens. For me, stretch or piece of chocolate. I also love to choose a mood playlist on @Spotify#scitlap
My room is at the end of the hall. They need to walk past all the other classes to get their water. They can't keep it together going past their friends in other rooms. I have a quiet space in the back for them.
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A2 Dpends, sometimes I laugh at myself for loosing it (poor last class of the day), sometimes, I walk away from the situation or go get some nice imagery in the health room in between classes. #scitlap
A3 Experience it, get them out in it. Nature is not meant to be studied inside walls, but in nature Now that winter is over looking forward to getting Ss outside for some lessons #scitlap
I don’t do it anymore since I’m not a classroom t, but I used to keep a checklist and email at least two kids’ families each afternoon until I got through the whole list, then start again. It was incredibly high return-on-investment. 😁 #scitlap
Hrm... I wonder if that same tactic could work for admin positive-emailing their faculty? I certainly always feel good when my supervisor drops a simple note about something great she noticed! #scitlap
A3 I am lucky to have a very large window. I refer to things outside our room, and hope to get the kids outside now that the weather is changing. It snowed on Monday! #scitlap
A.3 To be honest we don't do this enough. Too many of these students have no association with nature. I wish wee had more opportunities to do field studies, but the urban/suburbs do not lend themselves to this. #scitlap
A3 My favorite topic! (Although genetics and evolution are up there too). So many games and simulations from sources like Project Wild, Project Wet, and Project Learning Tree..really lets them feel the content. And of course go outside! #scitlap
A3) Although, if you keep the Bald Eagle webcam ( https://t.co/j6cDHTuQJy )open and forget that it's open, the chirping and bird calls might freak you out. Might have happened to me more than once #scitlap
A3) going outside!! But I’m ultra spoiled being in PNW, where it might be rainy, but nature is easy to access and the weather’s never TOO miserable to go outside.
Colleague skypes her classes with field scientists! With tech we can go ANYWHERE! (Like reading rainbow!)
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A4 One of my favorite end-of-the-year activities (end of Ecology Unit) is to have "story time" with a book called "There is A Hair In My Dirt" Final reaction is PRICELESS! #scitlap
A.4: Play is so important to all aspects of #LEARNING
We do a lot of model building with clay. Yes even the big tough "too cool for school" high school students love to play with clay. #scitlap
Love, and yes....it's got some fabulous biology content. And the illustrations, a bit fresh, but MS kids eat it up! Make sure to pause for science jokes...it takes them a minute. #scitlap
A.4: Play is so important to all aspects of #LEARNING
We do a lot of model building with clay. Yes even the big tough "too cool for school" high school students love to play with clay. #scitlap
A5 I had my Ss do an energy audit of their home over earth day weekend. Told them they should get help from parents and talk to parents about energy use. #scitlap
Do y’all like clay or sculpy more than model magic? I feel like I’m a model magic convert... so easy to work with and *lightweight!* And, totally, all learners love to build with clay/mm/play dough/etc!
#scitlap
I need to update it, but I have had my students create an iBook for the community and students on how to improve your carbon footprint. https://t.co/QxsKorldmK#scitlap
We used to have kids collect papers for recycling and take turns hauling out to the "green" bin. Now that the maintenance crew handles recycling, Ss are disconnected from it. #scitlap
A5) Lesson on natural resources from our @CPOScience text REALLY showed how consumption will shift our dependence from non-renewable to renewable resources #scitlap
Always looking for new ways to celebrate my kids. In my game I can give XP, then badges for really cool things. I try to award badges publicly with class applause. #scitlap
A7 Going with R again. Rapport and relationships make kids feel special. Asking them about whatever....dance, baseball games, cheerleading tournaments, birthdays, movies....connections make people feel special, not crowns. #scitlap
I was glad when we stopped having kids take out recycling... I thought injury waiting to happen (lots of stairs, cars in parking lot), and we put campus stewardship effort towards teaching younger kids, audits, in-class sorting, etc. But must keep stewardship element. #scitlap
In reply to
@daleyscience, @smarterteacher, @SciTeach7Davis
Those relationships, asking about the dance, etc, make people feel *seen.* My mostly high-privilege kids don’t need to feel like royalty, but they need to feel seen, and understood, and that they belong. #YouMatter
❤️💜💚💛💙 #scitlap
