Fall Greetings,

Thank you for your patience! So grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow with my colleagues under your tutelage.

Graciously,

Cindy Renee Snead

After reading several PLGs already submitted, I have found that many teachers are anticipating attendance at learning opportunities surrounding increasing student engagement and active participation. I thought I would share a quick 5 minute article around a common inquiry-based strategy known as the 5E Model. 

This is a great strategy for teachers to use to help design lesson plans and instruction based on the activities planned within five specific areas surrounding standards-based content.  These five areas are:  Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate (or sometimes referred to as Extend). 

Check out the article (https://lesley.edu/article/empowering-students-the-5e-model-explained), and see if this may be a strategy to explore further to use when designing lesson plans or to search for PL opportunities using other inquiry-based teaching strategies similar to the 5E Model.  

Feel free to share any strategies or ideas throughout this month on our shared Padlet, as well as letting us know about any PL opportunities you are looking forward to or have attended.

Inquiry, or curiosity learning, is the opposite of passively receiving information from an instructor, but rather models how to learn and explore things first-hand to improve innovation and critical thinking skills. This month I wanted to share some easy ways to jump-start inquiry-based learning in any class setting to boost student engagement and active participation.

Check out this brief article, "14 Effective Teaching Strategies For Inquiry-Based Learning." Some examples mentioned in the article can be found above in the graphic provided from TeachThought. Hope you can easily add some of these fun and engaging ways to promote evidence-based inference and wonderment within any of your classes.

Feel free to ask questions or share-out how you encourage curiosity, inquisitiveness, and/or wonderment (or plan to) with your students as we all gear up for the conclusion of Semester 1 (and our winter breaks : ) soon).

• Make time for you

• Resolve to say no

• Set aside work-free time

• Ask for help

• Set Achievable SMART goals

• Don't take things personally

• Forgive more

Feel free to tell us what you resolve to do in the new year by adding to our Padlet, we would love to hear about what other teachers are seeking to accomplish differently in 2025. Happy New Year's !

Thomas Edison is known for saying, "To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

One thing that STEM education has taught me is that these four core subjects not only require imagination (and sometimes a pile of junk for activities and projects), but also a lot of real-world collaboration. Scientists helping engineers that are helping mathematicians, that are helping computer scientists solve the world's problems. If our students can practice inquiry and problem solving skills, as well as become fluent in the design-thinking processes, then they will be prepared for their collaborative futures. I found two great, quick articles explaining the design-thinking process and how it overlaps both inquiry and project based learning styles (one is linked above and the other is linked below). I also love the concept of STEAM, which just feels more accurate to me as a part-time art teacher and a computer science teacher the other part of my day. Art feeds into all invention and innovation, whether it is industrial design, marketing, or fine art concepts; all areas of STEM require some artist skill and imagination.

Flexible Learning: The Design Thinking Process

Happy Reading!

; ) Emily

How is Backwards Design different from traditional lesson planning? The answer is not surprising! When teachers use the Backwards Design Method, they first look for the desired outcomes. What objectives do I want my lesson to focus on and my students to achieve? Next, teachers then look for ways students can show what they have learned through projects or assessments that would prove students have learned the objectives.

Lastly, teachers would then develop other learning activities and classroom instructional plans for students to progress from remembering and recall; to understanding and applying new concepts; to analyzing learning; evaluating the level of understanding and if relearning is needed; to creating new learning experiences or application in other areas of learning (Bloom's Taxonomy).

As we head into the implementation season of CHOICE, maybe you can find this method of standards-based lesson planning helpful. If you would like to learn more about the Backwards Design Method below are two more resources for an in-depth explanation of how to incorporate this strategy into your lesson planning.

Feel free to share ideas here or post your Backwards Design ideas in our collaboration slide presentation using the template provided in our last CoP meeting. Below are the links mentioned for your exploration.

Backwards Design

Bloom's Taxonomy

CoP Collaboration Template

Collaboration Board (for PL and Implementation Ideas)

Have a wonderful spring and a restful Spring Break!

Sorry if you do not teach Middle School Math, however if you happen to teach Middle School Science a colleague of mine recommends the 4th and 5th grade Review from Kate Summers (KS) Curriculum ,and says it is worth the mini fortune of $20.00 for SOL review.

If you teach Middle School CTE or CS, I favor Jeopardy for Benchmark review because we do not have SOL testing (yet). I also have students create a digital and hard-copy portfolio of evidence. If you would like end-of-the-year suggestions, reach out to me and I can share my portfolio list of items.

Another resource I love to use when SOLs are winding down is MakeCode Arcade by Microsoft. Students walk through how to code and can use blocks, Python, or Java. It is all step-by-step or students can make their own projects. This resource is great for both CS/CTE and also for CS integration. Students love to learn through playing and building games and code. If you become a GitHub Educator Member (free) you can print out materials like directions, checklists, debriefs, slide decks, quizzes. and more. They even have a free, online PD to get you started if you're interested.

📅 When? April 23, 2025 9:30am - 4:30pm PDT
💻 Where? Online (Register now!)
💰 Cost? Absolutely FREE!

Happy Testing Season, You Got This!

Emily

How can we intentionally add in more literacy into STEM courses? Well, several ways have been suggested like using graphic organizers to sort or compare and contrast content ideas and concepts. Another way is adding in reading stations or exploration days where we provide reading materials and articles for students to use in discovering deeper meaning and understanding of concepts.

Having students write questions and/or reflections surrounding their own learning experience is another great way to incorporate literature into STEM classes and instruction. The more we can de-compartmentalize STEM subjects and integrate real-world applications, the better it will be for our students growth and understanding in any content area, but especially in STEM.

One way I have found to easily get my students used to reading more in STEM is to start with introducing a "station day" which I can "Today We Explore ...". My middle school students do enjoy collaborative work, so I have begun adding in three choices for these station days. They move through each station (timed) completing the tasks independently or together. Each student is responsible to have their own work submitted at the end of class.

One station is on the computers working on an outline; reading and responding to an article or task; or completing an digital graphic organizer surrounding our objective or topic. The second station is a reading topic-specific books; computer science history choice; or computer scientist snapshot activity. The third station is a hands-on activity where they are given a task. First, they need to perform the task, and then write the step-by-step directions (unplugged algorithms) for someone else to complete the task. The next group performs the task with the last groups directions first, and makes necessary changes for the final group.

So far the students have enjoyed these station days and I have been able to work in one day the last three quarters. My plan next year is to have one to two station days each quarter (probably every-other Friday) to help integrate computer science and literacy in each of my classes.

The students favorite station other than Sphero robots (which I have to do in stations because we only have six), has been writing our Jeopardy review game questions and answers. They love this! I have them use the materials I provide and I highlight a few key areas to start with for our current concepts. They write questions and find the answers in the material. I also provide different levels of materials, so everyone has the opportunity to read and write at the Jeopardy station!

I hope you are able to use some of these ideas to springboard your own plan to integrate more literacy, and maybe even some computer science, next school year in your STEM classes to create more authentic learning experiences. Feel free to share your ideas of how you would like to integrate literacy more next school year, we would love more ideas to think about!

As you wind down your year, take time to relax and plan for some peaceful and refreshing time off. I know these last few weeks are hectic, but we have some much needed downtime in our futures to look forward to!

We got this!

Want to learn more about literacy in STEM... check out this Blog Post https://blog.definedlearning.com/blog/engaging-students-in-stem-learning-through-literacy or this article https://www.edutopia.org/article/scaffolding-literacy-through-stem-instruction/ ... Happy Planning!

She had written a paper her sophomore year at university before she was faced with the fact that she must have made this idea up in her own head. Her professor not only was brutal with his grading, but stressed the need to research and clarify before repeating misconceptions or sharing false science with others. After we laughed a little, we both agreed that addressing our own and our students' misconceptions is a key part of teaching great science!

The way that students wrap their heads around concepts in school can sometimes present lasting inaccurate understandings. It is important for teachers to address any misconceptions, so that students can construct new and correct information for continued and life-long learning. Attached is a list of misconceptions some science researchers have compiled. Many newer text books and curriculum resources, like Project Lead the Way, covers misconceptions before each lesson so that teachers and students can discuss and learn quality and applicable STEM standards.

https://www.claytonschools.net/cms/lib/MO01000419/Centricity/Domain/442/Childrens_Misconception.pdf

Check out our CoP Discussion Board this month for some more helpful strategies to combat misconceptions in the classroom.

Enjoy this summer, you deserve it!

Emily

One great tip that Desrosier shared in a podcast was about Google Task Lists on Keep. I have used Keep on my phone for grocery lists because I frequently shop for the same things week after week, but she has some wonderful ways to use Keep in your classroom that I am going to try this upcoming school year. She also has a great list of Back to School Routines, and much more she loves to share to help teachers have more time for other things.

This will be my last Padlet post and I wanted to thank each and every one of you for a great year at CHOICE. I have enjoyed working with all of you and wish you a wonderful 2025-2026 school year, especially as you search for your next PL to attend!

Best,

Emily