Tressa Hartsell
Fall Reflections
Be The Good
During the first week of the semester, homeroom students were challenged to figure out ways to "be the good" in their schools and/or communities. This was a school-wide initiative to be accomplished by individual homerooms, 9th-12th grade. I decided to use the Challenge Learning Framework to engage the students. These senior homeroom students, who are often apathetic about doing anything during homeroom time, were interested and enthusiastic and came up with great ideas that we hope to pursue throughout the school year. I felt that the process was so much more engaging than a typical "brainstorming" session where a few students might suggest ideas to write on the board, while the rest watch and listen. Each student was held accountable for brainstorming ideas in their journals before sharing their ideas with others. Because these ideas were linked to their own individual interests, there was built in relevance and therefore engagement. TAKEAWAY - I definitely want my spring project to have as much student involvement in the design process as possible to keep students' interest and engagement forefront and center!
BeTheGood.MOVInterest "Line Dance"
Students spent time listing things they were curious or passionate about in their journals. Then, they prioritized and shared their top two interests.
Essential Questioning
After forming interest groups, students brainstormed ways they could "Be The Good" at their school or in their community.
STEM Academy
This fall, Mountain Heritage High School began it's first ever STEM Academy. Forty students and three teachers signed up to spend one Saturday a month (and many hours at lunch/after school/evening each week!) participating in STEM activities and research projects. The Saturday sessions are meant to engage students in the scientific process and spark interest and enthusiasm in designing their own authentic scientific research projects. They also aim to teach students proper research design, data analysis, and how to present their findings. The academy will culminate in students presenting their research at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Charlotte in March. Interest groups were chosen in a similar process to what I used for the "Be The Good" project, and student research projects are currently being designed based on students' interests. Community mentors are being sought for many of the groups that are focusing on community problems or on problems that community members have interest/knowledge about. With 40 students in groups of 1, 2, or 3, we have 18 projects going on at once. As none of these student groups are in our regularly scheduled classes, it has been extremely challenging to find the time to effectively mentor these students and help them design their projects. TAKEAWAY - Although student input is important for student engagement, my spring project will need a bit narrower of a focus in order to be successful. I plan to give students choice and ownership of ideas within more defined parameters.
Traveling to ASU to engage in STEM activities.
Using design/redesign to build a catapult to accomplish different tasks.
Learning how to analyze data with graphs and statistics.
Experiencing the necessity of teamwork and communication in scientific endeavors.