Pursue Excellence

Below are examples of how both my students and myself pursue STEAM excellence within the Mineola Community. If you walk into my STEAM Lab, you will observe students putting their best foot forward and always using their most creative minds to find a solution to the problem at hand. Students consitently demonstrate excellence in their academics through building and fostering relationships with their peers.

Distance Learning

Due to the unfortunate circumstances, school has been closed since March 16th. However, that does not mean that learning has stopped. Our community of administrators, parents, teachers, staff, and students all rose to the occasion to try to keep things as "normal" as possible for our students. Our teaching looks a little different for now, but we are all in this together and have what's best for our students always in our minds. This is the ultimate definition of pursuing excellence away from school. Even though distance learning is not the most ideal education setting for anyone, my youngest scientists still loved to take part in various Webex conferences and Kidoyo challenges that I have created. Each week, I try to pop in on a few classes to talk to them and see how they are doing. My main priority is to try to maintain relationships with as many students as possible. I also create weekly Flipgrid and Kid OYO challenges for students to submit for a badge. Some examples of challenges are Inventor and Spring Scavenger Hunt, Save the Dinosaur Waterproof Experiment, Virtual Field Trip Commentary, and Neuron Modeling Challenge.

New Teacher Workshop

Mineola School District's New Teacher Workshop has given me a the great opportunity to evolve as an educator and continue to pursue excellence in my career. I loved getting together every few weeks with the other teachers in my cohort. It allows us to collaborate, share strategies, and learn from one another. Over the four years in NTW our, retention project, motivation project, and action research reports have allowed us to reflect and improve upon our practice in order to continue to evolve into the best educator we can be for our students.

Curriculum Writing

Over the past few years I have been on several curriculum writing committees. As a special area teacher, I think it is important to be part of the curriculum writing process in order to facilitate the integration of STEAM and science with the other subject areas within the integrated curriculum. I am also part of the GEM curriculum writing committee and the PK-12 Makerspace/Coding/Robotics Committee.

Inter-Visitations

Teachers push into my STEAM Lab everyday, but I usually do not have the opportunity to be in the classroom while my fellow colleagues are teaching. New Teacher Workshop gave us the opportunity to set a goal for ourselves and visit colleagues to help with our research and give us some strategies that we can use in our classrooms. My goal was to focus on strategies for implementing the integrated curriculum and to better support our ENL students in the science lab. One example that demonstrated this initiative was when I visited Ms. Bauer several times while she taught science concepts. The way Ms. Bauer bridged the science academic vocabulary provided me with many great ideas that I implemented in my classroom, which in turn benefited all my learners throughout the entire process.

District Events

I am grateful to be a teacher in the Mineola School District. I love this community and look forward to attending various school functions. Some functions that I look forward to every year include: MVP Fundraiser Walk, Family Math & Reading Night, Welcome Back BBQ, Meadow Drive's Regatta and Mineola Proud Day. What a wonderful way to be a part of the Mineola community and demonstrate our Mineola pride!

Evolution of STEAM Day

An event that students, staff, and myself look forward to every year is STEAM Day! This event has evolved over the past 4 years and this year we hosted our first STEAM Night which we had over 500 people in attendance! My first STEAM Day in the district was structured like a Science Fair, where I displayed various projects that our scientists completed during the year. It was a good start, but I knew the following year I wanted to get the students and parents more involved. The last three years STEAM Day/Night involved hands on challenges where the students would "teach" their parents how to solve various STEAM related problems. It was extraordinarily satisfying watching the students take charge and work together with their families to complete various challenges.

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The students in the above video are learning the benefits from receiving feedback from peers.

Pursuing Excellence in Pre-K-2 Classroom

Scientists from Pre-K to 2nd grade are constantly pursuing excellence in the STEAM Lab. The environment that I create is a student centered, proactive, warm environment where learning from mistakes is encouraged in order to learn and grow. This type of learning environment encourages students to put in the most effort they can in order to rise to the challenge. This year I have implemented an effective effort rubric that helps students learn the various components needed to "grow your brain". Students are encouraged to use the ingredients when facing a challenge. I have seen great improvement in their attitude and effort level when it comes to completing a challenging task.

The mission of the Mineola Union Free School District is to inspire each student to be a life-long learner, pursue excellence, exhibit strength of character and contribute positively to a global society.

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