Preparing for 2019-2020 in the Classroom - Starting with Primary Sources

As I am wrapping up my fellowship and preparing to return to the classroom for the 2019-2020 school year, I find myself very excited about the possibilities in front of me. I have been out of the general classroom for going on seven years. During my six years as the K-5 Engineering Teacher at Galileo STEM Academy, I felt as though what I was doing could be integrated into the general classroom. Now is my chance to put it to the test. I have begun mapping out the various resources I now have in addition to my engineering tools and identifying ways they can be integrated into the general elementary classroom.

Since my passion for integrating primary sources has been deeply embedded during my time at the Library of Congress, I first went through standards and district curriculum looking for areas that would easily integrate with primary sources. I highlighted areas I felt could be easily integrated with the use of primary sources. Since primary source analysis uses similar strategies as science based claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER), I also noted areas where I could integrate the use of CER with primary sources and various content areas.

I look forward to the challenge of integrating the various resources I have accumulated in my teacher tool box and the lessons learned from the elementary engineering lab.

The Possibilities of the Elementary Classroom

I love teaching elementary. Keep in mind, I may be biased since that is all I know.  What other teaching position gives you the freedom to integrate content areas and real-world experiences for a richer experience for students? The beauty of teaching engineering to elementary students for the last six years allowed me to do much the same just through the engineering lens.  As the engineering teacher, a specialist, I did miss the opportunity general classroom educators have to take a lesson a little longer if needed. The rewards of teaching elementary engineering far outweighed the challenges of being a specialist.

Each week, I saw 22 classes which was approximately 570 students, depending on current enrollment.  While this was a challenge for learning names and managing materials, it allowed me to build relationships and learning with students over the course of six years, kindergarten through fifth grade.  I knew exactly what students were learning in the earlier grades of engineering and could build upon that in subsequent years, developing a scope and sequence that was fairly extensive for the short time I had them each week.

My first year teaching engineering had little resemblance to what my sixth year teaching engineering looked like.  As with any teaching position, it takes time to find what works for the students and what the teacher can manage.  I loved the freedom I had in my classroom.  Not all educators can say that.  However, with good administrators, I had freedom in the general classroom but even more so in the engineering classroom.  The freedom created a sense of empowerment that allowed me to try things I hadn't tried before, especially with class sizes as large as 32 students.

My instruction had definitely morphed into facilitation.  My goal was to have students constructing their own knowledge through individual and collaborative challenges.  As students developed their skills in building from instructions, designing 3D prints, using robotics, programming on Raspberry Pi and more, I wanted them to attempt to combine some of these skills for open-ended projects. I wanted students to learn to identify problems, rather than me giving them a problem, and then develop a solution based on their accumulated skills.  Did this always work out?  No, but when it did the results were powerful.

I still feel as though I have many practices and projects I would like to try in the elementary classroom.  I would love to hear about some of the practices and projects you have tried as well.  There just seems to be a limitless amount of possibilities for the elementary classroom.

Geographic information system (GIS) in Elementary Education

Just attended an amazing lecture series at the Library of Congress today about the use of geographic information system (GIS) in K-12 education. Now while we might consider something like this for use with high school or even middle school students, I love the idea of using it with elementary students.

Currently, we have students who are working on identifying problems with natural resources and then developing a solution. This is all part of being a part of FabSLAM, a multi-week, team-based, digital fabrication competition where youth learn and practice design, iteration, and rapid prototyping skills primarily focused on 3D Design and 3D Printing (https://www.digitalharbor.org/whatwedo/projects/fabslam/).  In my experience, students have difficulties doing quality research to identify real problems. As I sat in the K-12 GIS lecture series, I could envision students using natural resource map data to identify areas of concerns. In Idaho, they may find there are increasing issues with access to public lands. Maybe it's the dangers of forest fires and their impact on the loss of natural resources.  I could go on. This is just one way GIS could be useful in the elementary classroom. Imagine if students could make their own data to then analyze.  Students could even create a presentation that includes their data with https://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/.  The integration of GIS can take place in multiple subject areas and create valuable practice in analysis and presenting information.

You can request a free esri software bundle for your school at https://www.esri.com/en-us/industries/education/schools/schools-mapping-software-bundle.

There are even mentors available across the country to help!