Personal Growth through Reflection

The following are reflections throughout the 5 years in the fellowship from 2019-Current

Reflection of this year in TLIIST (2019-2020)

Summer 2019

Introduction

It was an interesting first week as I got to know the other 19 other teachers in the program. I love that there is such a diverse group of educators in different areas of science. After being welcomed, we started working on actions needed for the school year. This fellowship is definitely more than just a professional development program. In a group of like minded people, I believe we will be achieving great things in the next 5 years.

Investigable Questioning

The Inquiry Institute

This was a 4 day event in which the fellowship members participated and reflected on. While I had personally heard and implemented some inquiry in my classroom, I learned many new things that helped shift my ways of thinking.

One of the new content as a part of inquiry investigations was investigable questions. Often during an exploration in inquiry, students and teachers must make sure that the problem they are investigating is able to be solved in their given parameters. We used these Ice Balloon activity, to introduce the value of quality, investigable questions. We were given various items to help investigate this ball of ice. We worked as a team to create as many questions about the balloon as possible. We then separated our questions to those that are Investigable and those that are not.

I also learned about the different types of inquiry: Guided, Structured and Open which we then took to a conference the following semester.

Teacher Leadership Reading

We ended the summer session with readings of the first 5 chapters. The book has allowed me to reflect on what teacher leadership is and why it's important.

Teachers leaders are needed to help achieve school, teaching and learning goals. It has been stated in the book that a single person cannot enact change. There is always some collaboration or a group of people working to make something greater.

One of the most resounding quotes is “Often teachers become like islands in their own classrooms, not venturing out to see what works for anyone else. We are stronger pedagogically when we learn from one another” (Emily, Levin & Schrum, p. 4).

Fall 2019

Fall Leadership Meetings

During the Fall, we delved deeper into our "Favorite Five" project started in the summer. The "Favorite Five" project is geared towards helping 5 special students in our classrooms who would benefit from added attention from us. The goals differ by teacher and situations but the over impact is that there is growth in the student from the beginning to the end of the project. As a collective team, we found out different things about our students just from the simple fact that we were tracking attendance, behavior and academics. Personally, this helped me reflect on the fact that as educators we can not forget about the struggling students. Often, it is easier to move the high achieving students towards their finish line but the students who need the most help are part of our "Favorite Five" and should get the same attention if not more. This also helped me bridge some relationship gaps I had with the students I chose as my favorite five. I feel like they started to see that I was paying attention more to what they were doing and thus we're starting to become more active in their schooling.

Received my Presenter T-shirt

This was my second time at CAST but it was definitely more memorable

It was interesting to see how TNspires can be used in science classrooms

I held a baby kangaroo (joey) for the first time ever! It was a fun experience in the exhibit hall.

Presented with my friend and colleague. We even had door prizes!

Spring 2020

Western Noyce Conference

Besides presenting at this conference, it was very interesting to see other Noyce programs as well as networking with my undergraduate teaching program Professors who I had not seen in a few years.

Workshops

This was an interesting STEM related activity that could be done at any level. I had done this challenge before but not like this. We were given the criteria that it must be a sturdy chair that can hold 3 huge SAT study books. Our group made it but it was extremely more interesting to see how creative other groups could get too and how they could also hold the amount of books.

I'm thankful for all the experiences this past year. I feel that I have grown as an individual and educator. The Leadership/Instruction team (Ericka, Christina, Carolyn, Matthew and Bob) have all provided quality experiences to allow teachers to reflect and grow. The care and support they provide is crucial and it is evident that they want to see us succeed. I cannot wait to see what is in store this upcoming 4 years.

Thank you

Selene Verhofstad

Reflection of this year in TLIIST (2020-2021)

Summer 2020

My Virus Model

In our second year, we focused our science content on Biology. Due to the pandemic, our fellowship had to meet online. Luckily, we had a great presenter, Christina Crawford, who spent a whole week on teaching us about COVID-19 and relating it to activities we could do with our students. In this task in particular, we had to use material we had in our home to build a model of a virus. It was very fun and I could see how this can be applicable in many homes where buying material during the pandemic might be difficult.

Biology Day 2

We were presented with a hypothetical new virus called the Mega valirious, which has entered a standard M&M community. We had to calculate how many M&M's would be infected with the virus over the next 6 days. In our virtual zoom groups, we had to investigate, collect data, and create a graphic to demonstrate how Mega valirious may effect the population with one assumption removed.

ICS Color Model (Personality)

I really loved and valued this experience in determining our personality colors. It helped me reflect on myself and others as well. It gave me insight into how to work better with others due to their colors. I found out I was an exact mix of Blue and Green with Blue being my primary color and Green my secondary color. Below is a summary of my colors.

Fall 2020

November 2020

I was able to attend the Colorado Science Conference virtually in November 14, 2020. It was a great conference where I was able to attend various sessions in STEM teaching. I even won their top prize through their online scavenger. I won a TI Inspire calculator!

Spring 2021

In this semester, we started to work on our chemistry content with Dr. John Hutchinson. It was great to have him come work with us on how to break down huge topics such as Stoichiometry and Moles into Proportional Reasoning. We started our discussion with basic real life examples of proportions such as 1ft= 12 inches, etc. We later moved onto to complete an actual lesson utilizing empty canisters to determine mass indirectly. The lesson was very similar to the lesson below. I have attached it as an idea of the activity we completed at home. We were fortunate enough to have the TLISST leadership as they provided all the materials needed to complete this activity from home as we were still in the middle of the Pandemic.

Lesson_Science_Canister-Conundrum_sci.pdf

Reflection of this year in TLIIST (2021-2022)

Summer 2021

Professional Development

Dates

Chemistry Professional Development

June 21 - June 25

Action Research Project

June 28 - June 30

Action Research Project

July 5 - July 6

Crucial Conversations

July 7 – July 9

Summer 2021 continued to be online on Zoom due to the pandemic but we still have many collaborative activities. In the Chemistry PD, we learned more chemistry from both Dr. Hutchinson and Dr. Owens. My major takeaway from this portion was the introduction of the "Data First" approach. According to the article, "Data First: Building Scientific Reasoning in AP Chemistry via the Concept Development Study Approach", this "approach shows how the observations and analysis of scientific data can be used as a scaffold to build conceptual understanding in chemistry through inductive reasoning". Allowing students time to engage in data and diagrams before telling them what they all mean can be meaningful to understand their though processes.

In the Action Research weeks, we started to make more progress in understanding what we need to do for our Action Research Project. We determined that we would slowly transition into it in Fall 2021.

Our last week was on Crucial Conversations. Unfortunately, we did not receive the full training but we still have some meaningful discussions about having difficult conversations. In the future, I would like to attend the full training so this gave me a good preview as well as a chance to read the book.

On the other hand, that same week we also went over possible awards that we could apply for as teachers. I believe this was a very valuable experience as we were able to share resources for grants and awards for resources needed in our classrooms.

Fall 2021

This fall semester has focused on a major part of our fellowship which is our Action Research project. We continued our discussion of action research during the Fall to loosen any last questions we had about the project and to help us break down steps. Thankfully, the TLIIST leadership team realized that our new school year was not a normal one. A lot of us struggled to think of starting this with not knowing how the new school year would go.

As of December 2021, we learned that the school year is definitely not normal. Students and teachers are both having to adjust to being face to face 100% of the time now while people are still contracting the virus. We realized that students are behind socially. For example, I teach 10th grade students, yet our team of teachers saw how they can act like they are still in middle school. These has been an exhausting experience as we have to reteach students how to behave face to face. Although this is true, students have perservered and I can see that they are starting to grow every month. I have no doubt that by May 2022, they will be prepared to take their San Jac courses as part of the early college high school program. I learned that as a teacher, I needed to meet students where they were. Students like being face to face but its an adjustment and the same can be said for teachers.

With all this in mind, I was able to start an action research project with my colleague but have not been able to move forward besides meeting and building a team. I'm hoping that we can make more movement next semester or completely change my action research topic. As part of another RICE program, TaLENt, I am completing a separate Action Research project and hope to build on that as well.

Spring 2022

A lot happened in Spring 2022. Below are some highlights of the events

1) I became the new Academic Decathlon Coach and our team went to State in Frisco, TX. We placed third and all students received a scholarship! (February 2022)

2) I became the new UIL Science Coach for my campus and we were Science Champions (March 2022)

3) I completed my Aspiring Campus Coaching Academy program (March 2022)

4) I was able to attend NSTA for the first time in my career

5) I won the 2022 Shell Urban Science Educators Development Award and was able to attend NSTA for free as well as tour the science museum for free!

6) I now serve on the Urban Science Committee (2022-2025)

3rd Place State Invitational at Frisco, TX

1st year as Academic Decathlon Coach

District Science Champions for Dobie HS

1st year as UIL Science Coach

Aspiring Campus Coaching Academy

March 2022

NSTA Award presented at the Houston Museum of Natural Science

NSTA 2022 was in Houston, TX this year. It was a great opportunity to learn more about science at the national level. I was able to go due to my application to the award. Thanks for Ericka and Matthew for writing my recommendation letters!

Here are some questions I was asked after the awards in their showcase

In an urban community, what are some of the challenges you face to provide students access and opportunity to be successful in science?
What are the benefits of being a role model representing an underserved population to your students?
How does this partnership with Shell create advocacy, equity, and inclusion for you and your students?
What are they key barriers that need attention to allow more diverse science educators into the workforce?

Reflection of this year in TLIIST (2022-2023)

Summer 2022

Carlana, Zehra, and I presented Day 2 of the Inquiry Institute. It had been a long time since I presented in front of teachers so it was a nice experience to get back into the flow of presenting. Our group also worked on our Mentoring new teachers presentation on Scientific literacy.

In TLIIST, we also focused on submitting a CAST proposal as well as moving toward our Action Research Projects.

Fall 2022

We presented our "Supporting Science Literacy" content to new science teaching through the fellowship on Zoom. It was exciting and a new format for us and we received high praise.

Several members also presented at CAST!

CAST 2022

Presentation Schedule

Selene and Faryal

● How to STEMify Your Science Labs - Thursday, November 10th - 8:00 - 9:00 am

● Incorporating the Right Level of Inquiry in Your Classroom - Thursday, November 10th - 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Rebecca and Remelia

● Using C-R-A Approach in Teaching Science Concepts to High School Students - Thursday, November 10th, 2:30 - 4:30 pm

Marina, Marlo, Selene

● Inquiry in Chemistry: Lessons and Strategies - Friday, November 11th, 8:00 - 10:00 am

Philomena

● Unlocking Causes of Science Teacher Attrition and Shortage in Texas - Thursday, November 10th - 4:00 - 5:00 pm

● Conducting Science Inquiry with Balloons, Breakfast Cereal, and a Children’s Literature Book - Friday, November 11th, 8:00 - 10:00 am

Matthew

● Integrating Computational Thinking in the Science Classroom - Friday, November 11th, 9:30 - 10:30 am

● Science in the City: Culturally Relevant STEM Education by Bryan A. Brown - Friday, November 11th, 3:30 - 4:30 pm (discussion group leader)

Spring 2023

A lot happened in Spring 2023. Below are some highlights of the events

1) I presented at NSTA for the first time and 4 proposals were accepted along with Faryal Shaukat! (Traveled to Atlanta for the Conference)

2) I became a new Adjunct at University of Houston-Clear Lake and taught Science Teaching Methods for (Grades 4-8, Secondary).

3) My Octathlon team placed 10th in the State. (No other school in our district has done this, and this is the highest the team has placed). It was an honor to coach this team as many have continued on to Decathlon in the following school year.

3) My sister finished her first year teaching! I helped mentor her even though she was teaching Math.

1st NSTA presentation!

4 proposals were accepted to NSTA conference (2 poster sessions and 2 group presentations)

Poster Share-A-Thon

How to STEMify your science Labs

Friday, Mar 24, 2023

Technology tools to keep as we leave the pandemic behind

Sat, Mar 25, 2023

Presentation

Demystifying ELLs/EBs in the science classroom

Sat, Mar 25, 2023

Incorporating the right level of inquiry in your classroom

Friday, Mar 24, 2023

Reflection of this year in TLIIST (2023-2024)

Summer 2023

This summer we focused on submitting proposals for CAST 2023. One of our main focuses was the Leadership Conference where all TLIIST members presented at this conference. It was truly wonderful to present at Rice University and be in the presence of such great teacher leaders!

Our next big focus was Engineering! We were presented with various engineering examples. We then created an engineering lesson with our content group in the fellowship.

We also reviewed action research projects and favorite give projects. We decided to choose on for the upcoming school year.

In July 2023, I was given the chance to attend AMTA's Chemistry Modeling Workshop in person in California. It was truly life changing in the sense of my teaching. I feel that I learned so much about teaching and learning. I started using modeling in my classroom.

Fall 2023

A lot happened in Fall 2023. Below are some highlights of the events

1) I incorporated Modeling 100% for the first time in the district. I met with the district science specialist to talk about the implementation in my classroom.

2) I won 3 awards!!!

Outstanding Secondary Science Teacher 2023 by STAT CAST
Shell Regional Lab Challenge (valued at $20,000). I received free travel and lodging to Kansas City, as well as free one year membership to NSTA. More importantly I was able to order $10,000 in lab material for my classroom.
Wilhemina Robertson Science Teaching Excellence Award by the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

3) I presented on new chemistry TEKS for my district to middle school teachers!

4) Presented at CAST

5) Featured on NSTA Website

Spring 2024

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