STEM K12 2: STEM educators collaborate to develop, implement, and improve high quality STEM learning activities.

Impact Narrative:

Kelly Mill educators have a ten-year history of collaborating to engage students and stakeholders in high-quality STEM learning activities. Our collaboration has always been to improve our instructional practices focusing on STEM. Our five tenants (Colts Who Care, Wisdom Seekers, Difference Makers, World Changers, and Family) tie into our mission for Making the Atypical...Typical. They are integrated throughout our institution and serve as our framework for improvement. We build on and implement high-quality cooperation and professional development when we meet as faculty members and showcase STEM lesson design. This secured time to collaborate and plan for future learning aligns with our mission to have STEM embedded across Kelly Mill.

Vertical teams visit STEM schools to increase professional knowledge and share lesson plans school-wide. Evidence of professional learning communities (PLCs), meetings, faculty meetings, surveys, planning documents, and emails reflect our commitment to ongoing protected time for collaboration.

To implement deep levels of STEM learning, our PLCs function as a core base where teamwork and standards align. Teachers take surveys, and the results drive our next steps. From this, Kelly Mill staff cooperatively utilizes resources from the county, our community, and beyond. Our leadership team plans half-day professional development during the school day, embedded into each semester. Our district-level K-5 Math and Science content specialists are directly involved in this professional development and guide our staff. Other protected planning times include No Paper Days, Blitz Days, planning math and ELA nights, designing STEM lessons and museums, and improving annual grade-level STEM projects. We also have a background in planning and implementing school-wide and grade level museums and engaging in unique competitions, allowing students broader exposure to STEM.

Moving forward, we look for opportunities to reconnect with stakeholders through extensive national and global partnerships and continue working at deep levels to deconstruct standards in all content areas. We are committed to consistent practices in implementing the 5E model and plan to focus on shoring up our weaknesses in utilizing this common language to strengthen the usage of Elaborate and Evaluate. Finally, we strive to consistently immerse students in reflection through STEM journals in engineering and science processes.

Initiatives/Actions/Artifacts:

• No Paper Day

• Deconstructing Standards PLC- 4th Grade

• PLC Survey Google Form - STEAM

• PLC Response Form

• Planning emails

• STEAM Planning Meeting Notes

• Example-faculty lesson walk STEM

• PLC Brainstorming STEAM

• Teacher STEAM survey

• Teacher STEAM survey results

• Math Night Planning 5th- Email

• Visits to Mason Elementary and Coleman Middle school