First Week Reflections: Full STEM Ahead

Two months of planning, moving classrooms, reorganizing a science lab into a STEM lab, all led up to Wednesday: the first day of school.  This year I have stepped away from 8 years as a classroom teacher into a role as a grades 1-4 STEM teacher and coach.  I was feeling incredibly excited, a little nervous, and a little wistful since I would not have "my own" class.  Class after class proved to be an extraordinary week in many ways.

3rd and 4th graders took The Marshmallow Challenge.  We had innovative design of those spaghetti structures and great reflections on how to build a stable structure.  During one class I overheard a 3rd grader reassure her frantic group, "Don't worry, stay calm and relaxed!  We're in this together!"  That was a pivotal moment for this group of students where they regrouped with focus and went on to meet the challenge successfully.  What a smart kid.  What a lucky teacher.

1st and 2nd grade participated in a simple, but very cool density (lava lamp) demonstration.  Setting up for the first of the first grade classes, I was feeling a little more nervous than I thought reasonable.  But, I'll be very honest here, my last experience one-on-one with a 1st grade class was summer of 2003...  So, the class stampeded came in to the lab and sat down on the carpet to bombard me with questions and bathroom requests.  They were darling, inquisitive, squirmy, and eager to learn.  Our demonstration went just okay, but they enjoyed the end result and we shared lots of high-fives at the end of our time together.  My son is a first grader this year (his class will visit me on Monday!), but I was not prepared for a class full of first graders.  Lesson learned.  I will be better prepared next week!!!

I ended my Friday with an amazing class of 2nd graders.  They were more enthusiastic about STEM than any other class this week, and that enthusiasm was contagious!  We had a ball going through the lava lamp demonstration, but they were a little disappointed that there wasn't a grand explosion finale.  As I reflected on my day - 1st grade fail and 2nd grade win - I was feeling a little ho-hum.  Then tonight I received this email from a 2nd grade parent:

I've been given a gift with this opportunity to cultivate curiosity in roughly 380 students.  While I know it will have its challenges, I know this is where I'm supposed to be and I do believe this is going to be one of the greatest adventures of my career.

And now for the grand explosion finale!

Share Like a Family

This morning in our Community Circle, we each shared something that made our week fabulous.  I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as I listened to their comments about making new friends, getting to choose books from the classroom library, and being in this class.  This fall, I have a student teacher working me and when it was her turn to share, as deemed by the passing of the Koosh ball (many thanks to my dear hubby who uncovered this treasure), she commented that after only one week this class is already like a family.  

This idea of family stuck with my students as we put the finishing touches on our class contract.  While brainstorming buzz words to describe the kind of learning environment we want, one student wanted to add, "sharing and trusting" to our list.  This is the kind of thinking that makes teachers go weak in the knees!  I asked the student to explain what was meant by "sharing and trusting."  The explanation was that we should share if someone needed to borrow a pencil and share if someone had a good idea about something.  "Does trust go along with sharing, or is it its own category?" I asked.  The class felt that "sharing and trusting" should stay together because we needed to trust each other if we were going to share our thinking, writing, and ideas.  They worked in triads using the buzz words to write a phrase or statement about our learning environment.   As I moved from group to group, I was struck with how their statements were very serious, intentional, inspiring, and honest.  

So, what made my week fabulous?

"Sharing and Trusting: Where we share like a family, take risks with our learning, and trust each other with new ideas."  20 amazing, thoughtful, curious, innocent 3rd graders who completely humbled their teacher.