A New Year's Letter...To My Department

Happy Belated New Year! :)

I was so happy to hear you all enjoyed your breaks. I did too; I just could've used a bit more time. That's always the case, though. I will share that it was actually quite jarring for me to see the calendar turn to 2015. I’m not one who gets wrapped up in New Year’s Resolutions or gets upset by time passing. I am a very reflective person, and I’ve naturally somehow always done a pretty good job of deciding when to make life changes for myself. Or at least to recognize when I haven’t made necessary changes and then try to do something about it. ;) But I will admit, this year caught me off guard. The reason? Because I remember so vividly being in grade school when the teacher asked us to write a story based on the following prompt: “What do you think the world will be like in the year 2015? What will it look like, sound like, smell like in the year 2015? What will your life be like?” "What?" I thought. "2015?! Whoa!" That year seemed so far away to me. I remember my first thought being, “It’ll be so cool! Like Star Trek!” Needless to say, the world isn’t exactly what I imagined it would be. Both in good ways and in not so good ways...

One area I’ve been concentrating on this year—stemming from personal reflection—is providing equitable opportunities for our students. I’m becoming aware of how I’ve contributed to the inequities that exist in our society, whether knowingly or unknowingly, and I'm trying to do something about it. We’re certainly not where we ought to be when it comes to racial and gender equity. Nowhere close. So I’m thrilled that we have part of our department goals focusing on trying to remedy that tragic situation for our students.

With that said, one of the quotes that caught my attention over this past weekend was from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'” I love this quote. It’s so true, in my opinion. It is an incredibly urgent question, one that everyone should be asking themselves. And it made me think of all of you.

On an hourly basis, I see you scraping the barrels of your physical, emotional and intellectual energy to figure out how to motivate, energize, connect with, support, heal, educate, awaken, reach, challenge, affirm, and inspire your students. I hear the overcaffeinated dialogue and see the accompanying sleep-deprived walks to your desks and to your classrooms. And I think to myself, “The very last thing I ever need to ask these people is “What are you doing for others?” The very last thing ANYONE should ever ask my science people is “What are you doing for others?”

Instead, as your Director, it’s become crystal clear that the urgent question I need to ask you is, “What are you doing for you? What moment each week do you give to yourself? An hour? 30 minutes, even? When each week do you play at something that has NOTHING to do with others? Nothing to do with children, students, significant others, family, friends, responsibilities, school, etc. Just YOU! (Oh boy. I can see the eyes rolling now...)

Don’t laugh! I hear the humor in me saying this to you. The irony cuts deep. I’m a high functioning procrastinator who’s really competitive with herself, wanting to understand everything and do a good job the first time around. I hate simply checking things off a list and/or letting others down. This year, the work load for me has not even allowed for the possibility of procrastination, so I’m in a strange place. You haven’t seen me in a normal, dysfunctional way yet. So you have that to look forward to. ;) But since winter break, I really have made a concerted effort to put aside the time I need, the time I love, to work out. It’s the thing I do for me. And it feels great. I will be keeping this up.

Setting aside time for yourself...this, I believe, is the most important goal we can have as a department. It is the foundation upon which our physical, emotional and intellectual energies must rest in order to sustain ourselves for the long hall in the profession we chose, the career we love, whether we have three years left or thirty-three years left. So I challenge you all to check in with one another on a weekly basis. What did you do for you this week? And have an honest, deliberate response at the ready, even if it’s, “Damn. Nothing. I’ll do better next week.” Because we can only effectively and lovingly help the students who look to us for guidance if we first recharge ourselves physically, nourish ourselves emotionally, and challenge ourselves in a selfish—read “nerdish"—intellectual way. So please, put your oxygen mask on first. Always. Your loved ones need you. And our students need you. And I wouldn't mind seeing you around for a long while myself. ;)

"Aha!" THINKING About Education

"We've overemphasized content, when it's context that matters." ~Mitzi Montoya, Dean College of Technology and Innovation, Arizona State University

(A Post not just for the science educator. I promise.)

STORY:
Recently, I had my students participate in a seemingly straightforward lab activity. They were given three covered syringes. (No needles, of course!) One contained a solid inside, one had a liquid, and one had a gas. It's likely no surprise that when the students slightly pushed on each syringe (plunger), the solid and liquid did not move, and the gas depressed quite a bit.

A myriad observations were recorded in their journals. But one of the requirements was to create a model— draw a picture at the particulate level—to accurately represent the data they collected. In other words, create an explanation for the observations.

Every group drew pictures with the solid particles closest together, the liquid particles farther apart and the gaseous particles the farthest apart. When asked to justify this model using their data, the classes all stumbled. So I asked, "What made you think that liquid particles were farther apart than solid particles? The solid and liquid each behaved the same way according to your data, right? Why did you draw them this way?" Silence. Stunned looks. Some frustration ensewed. But eventually, one student said, "We learned that liquid particles were farther apart than solid particles. We learned it in middle school." So I said, "You memorized that in middle school. But has anyone ever proven it to you? I mean, how do you know whether that's true?" This same student said, "Whoa. What?! That just blew my mind. How many other things have I just accepted over the years?! Holy s#*t!" Clearly, an "Aha!" moment!

PROBLEM: 
So when we educators are asked to investigate, design, implement, etc. anything to do with those famous buzzwords, Critical Thinking, Inquiry, Engagement, Creativity, do we think there's anything left to learn? Or do we robotically go through the motions asked of us thinking we know all there is to know about these ideas. I think we all can admit that indeed, being a robot is easier sometimes. We might shut down based on the design of professional development, or our fatigue, or the climate we're in, or the stress we're under, etc. We end up thinking about our field—education/teaching—the very way we don't want our students thinking about our classes—with a checklist mentality. "Let's get this DONE."

So we need to model the mentality that we're trying to instill in our students. We want them to THINK. To formulate relevant questions. To justify their thinking. To creatively problem-solve. To efficiently and effectively navigate through all the information at their disposal. To communicate well (reading/writing/speaking). To collaborate constructively with their peers. To be empathetic. Etc. (Is that all?!)

CHALLENGES:
With that said, I have two challenges for you. I always think it's beneficial to walk in our students' shoes from time to time, just to see...

1. Try to pick one thing out of your next department meeting, faculty meeting, committee meeting, (graduate class, association email, etc.) that you care about. Don't just check something off a list or accept an assignment. Ask questions. Gain some insight. Offer alternative perspectives. Brainstorm creative solutions. Enjoy the process. Play. Etc.
2. The next time you eat lunch with a colleague, discuss the following. If you could change one thing in your secondary education content area, what would it be? And WHY? Most importantly, what would/do you do to MODEL the change? 

These are two ways we create more "Aha!" moments for ourselves!
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For the Science and Math Educators:

The New York Times ran a special edition in their ScienceTimes section last Tuesday. The focus? Science and Math Achievement. It was enlightening, infuriating, affirming and frightening all at once. It was the inspiration for the above post. I highly suggest that any educator involved in science or math education reads this special section as a place to begin investigating the status quo in our field, as well as ponder where to go from here.

There were articles that touched on these questions. (The question is a link to each article.)

• What actually works in science and math ed? (Amazing. We actually may KNOW!)
• What are two current fights in science? (Both organizations run by scientists, as well as "freelance" students, are making sure we stay honest and protect our field as "science.")
• Where are the women? ("Women constitute 50% of our nations workforce, but only 25% of our scientific corps.")
• Is Education reform as simplistic and are tests and test results as straightforward as the media reports?
• Why are Chinese educators looking to US schools for leadership?

Enjoy!