My truest and most devotional artform is Teaching. It is there, that for the first time in my life, through 22 years of failure and frustration, I saw the birth of something beautiful. No matter what I do, teaching will always be a core component of my dreams. In this section, I share a few ideas that I would love to collaborate on and implement. I begin by giving a brief overview of each of the subsections:

• Ideas to improve the Teaching Profession: I taught high school for six years (see the Teaching->High School section for my teaching methods/philosophy) and in this subsection I list a few ideas that I think could help the profession.
• Ideas to further the WHS-Brandeis Program: I started and run a summer research program at Brandeis, where students from Waltham High School are paired with a graduate student or postdoc for 6 weeks and conduct inquiry-based STEM research projects (see Teaching->WHS-Brandeis Program and Teaching->Mentoring sections for more details). In this subsection, I dream of bringing the summer program to the larger student body at WHS by running it as an elective course. To bring WHS and Brandeis together, I propose providing Brandeis graduate students with training and academic credit to develop and implement research projects (such as labs based on yeast, flies, etc).
• Ideas for High School Portfolio development: How can we awaken every student and convince them that no matter what, every one of them is capable of brainstorming and implementing epic ideas? How can show every student that they have some control over their destinies? In my opinion, it is by creating a series of small opportunities that lead to successive successes and ultimately into the development of each student's portfolio of projects that reflects their dreams, their skills and their implementation of novel ideas. I propose ideas like incubators and microgrants in this subsection.
• Ideas for a course on American Identity: The vast majority of the nation's students go through the public school system. This means that the public school system has the ability to heal an entire nation. I propose that we need to create a mandatory course on American Identity that does the following: 1. develops a common narrative and set of experiences that defines our collective identity (ie the meaning of being a US citizen), 2. teaches how to form collaborations and exploit one of the greatest natural resources of the US...our diversity, 3. truly connects the students to the community and 4. dissolves the segregated silos of society.

Ideas to improve the Teaching Profession

I taught for six years at Waltham High School and those were some of the best years of my life (described in the Teaching -> High School section). I transitioned from a scared and nervous teacher with low self-confidence to one that had a creative identity with a novel teaching style. Over the years, as I slowly digested my experiences and saw more of the world, I realized that there are a number of problems that diminish the potential of a teacher’s career trajectory and job growth. This is tragic because teachers are some of the most devoted, hardworking, essential and underappreciated workers who have to continuously weather through the emotional storms of their students.

Having experiencing many different job environments, I adamantly believe that teachers are underpaid for the essential service that they provide for the development of the nation. Typically teacher salaries stagnate after five years with minimal growth. However, especially for teachers, money isn’t everything. The other significant problem is the lack of opportunities for true professional development and growth and the time to pursue them. The thrill of developing new abilities, nurturing new ideas and forming new collaborations are absent in the career trajectory of the teacher.

This section focuses on ideas that could enhance the professional growth of a teacher. I believe that we need to create more avenues of collaboration, where teachers inform laws, policies, and the overall development of the community. Teachers are at the heartbeat of the community, every child of the United States passes through this network of teachers and so teachers have a real role in the Destiny of our country. If we expect our children to imagine, create collaborative networks, develop novel ideas and accomplish epic things, we have to provide a similar path for teachers. Respecting the profession of teachers and seeing them as the leaders of change in the community is the way to transform the world.

First, I describe a few ideas that I feel will enhance the professional growth and value of teachers. Afterwards I suggest a few ways to implement the ideas.

The Ideas

1. Creating collaborative networks that lead to classroom enrichment and community development. The creation of partnerships through collaborative networks is essential in the development of new ideas. Teachers can provide companies/organizations/universities with a truly unique look into the communities whereas organizations can provide resources, opportunities for students, and practical applications of the subject matter. Classes should be created that instruct teachers on how to form and maintain partnerships and events should be created that allows teachers to meet people from these organizations. The other benefit of emphasizing the development of collaborative networks is that it gives greater job satisfaction, because with each passing year, a teacher’s social-wealth increases and so does their ability to implement larger and larger ideas that span multiple organizations and fields.
   • Creating partnerships between teachers and Universities. The most obvious connection is between teachers of public schools and local universities and colleges. Most of these universities have teaching programs that would greatly benefit from a weathered teacher’s knowledge and experience. This is because becoming a good teacher is much more about experience and guided advice than theory. Similarly, most universities have a pool of graduate students who want to explore teaching as a future career path. Public school teachers could provide advice and in-class practicum experience. In return, universities can provide summer research opportunities for public school teachers and internship opportunities for the high school students along with resources for classroom enrichment. While a few small and limited number of interactions exist, these do not have enough significance to affect the larger body of students and teachers. When I was a teacher, neither I nor my students felt any connection to Brandeis or Bentley (both universities in Waltham). Additionally, as a teacher, I did not have the skills to build partnerships or even comprehend why they would be beneficial. Look at the subsection, "Ideas to further the WHS-Brandeis Program", to see one way to facilitate this.
   • Creating partnerships between teachers and local businesses and NGOs. Teachers should be actively talking to local businesses and NGOs. While these organizations can provide money (such as paying for advertisement in yearbooks), a much deeper relationship can be created. For example, the city of Waltham has a number of science based companies such as Genzyme. When I was a WHS teacher, I had no contact with them, however they could have provided a wealth of enrichment such as real-life applications of science, discussions on science careers, summer internship opportunities for teachers and students and lectures by scientists. Similarly, other local small businesses could provide mentorship on how to start your own business and how to market and advertise. These collaborations could enhance the business and economics courses at WHS and also motivate entrepreneurship in students across disciplines. NGOs have many scientists, activists, and changers of society, all of which could provide content for lesson plans and perspectives that could truly enhance the school experience. I remember that after I had won a grant from the Waltham Chamber of Commerce, they had an award dinner where high school teachers and heads of businesses met, however since I had not developed any skills for ‘networking’ and building partnerships, nothing useful came from it (other than the award money, which I used to buy very useful sensors for my labs). Finally, by providing summer paid internships to students and teachers, these businesses and NGOs would gain deeper knowledge into the youth market. As consultants, teachers have a lot to offer (see 'Implementation' below).
   • Creating partnerships between teachers and local community organizations. Teachers have a great depth of knowledge in how to interact with the youth and therefore have tremendous amount of wisdom and experience that they can offer. Local community organization, such as the police and social workers can benefit from this and by creating these partnerships, the community can feel more interwoven. There are even opportunities for lesson plan enrichment. For example, as a physics teacher, I had once reached out to the state troopers, to see if they used any physics when examining car crashes. It turned out that they did and they even sent me a lesson plan.
   • Creating partnerships between teachers and alumni of the school. Often teachers create very meaningful and deep bonds with students, far beyond what students will experience with professors in universities. Many of my former students have kept in contact with me. Instead of letting this dissipate there should be a clear channel on how alumni can give back to their community. Unlike university alumni relationships that nearly exclusively focus on financial contributions, public school teachers and their former students should focus on community building and volunteering their time. Therefore, these alumni can provide mentorship and guidance to the new generation of students and provide collaborative partnerships between teachers and their professional networks. To motivate this, teachers should teach their students that it is everyone's fundamental duty to give back to their communities.
   • Creating partnerships between teachers and local and national level politicians and law makers. While I agree that schools should remain politically impartial, public school teachers should have a very active and loud voice in the law making process. Just as many lawmakers have science advisers, they should also hire teachers during the summer to inform educational policies. Additionally many initiatives that affect the community would benefit from the perspective of a teacher, whether it is violence, drugs, climate change or immigration.

2. Create a culture for publications. Public school teachers are innovators who create, design, and customize their lesson plans. Many teachers develop novel labs and activities which they refine over the years. While every teacher’s style is different, often to be an effective teacher, one has to innovate ways to entertain while educating. This technique is rarely ever discussed but is a vital ingredient. Also, in public schools many students have IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) which philosophically is a beautiful idea however, in practice, can be very difficult to implement because sometimes different IEPs require entirely different requirements from the teacher. It was not uncommon to have nearly a fourth of my class on IEPs. Nevertheless, teachers have innovated ways to solve this sort of ‘differentiated’ teaching. Unfortunately most of this wisdom is lost once the teacher retires or leaves. While there are some teaching magazines and publications, it is not in the teaching culture to promote publication of teaching methods. This needs to change and senior teachers need to be given more time to collaborate, collect data and publish their intellectual content, which can lead to greater exposure and job satisfaction in the later years.

3. Create a culture of grant writing. Grants can bring in much needed money for equipment and materials. Grants can also be used to implement innovating large-picture ideas that can significantly benefit a school. However, writing grants is not part of the teacher culture and teachers are never allocated time to devote to grant writing. I think there needs to be a shift in how we imagine teaching, especially for senior teachers. Teachers should be seen as innovators of ideas and should receive time in which they can write grants and publish ideas. As of now, there isn’t even enough free time allocated to grading papers.

4. Community Weaving. I discuss this in greater detail in another section. Along with low pay and minimal job growth, another problem is that society often does not value the profession of teaching. There needs to be a national vision that sees the role of teachers as healers of a divided nation. The job of teaching is sacred and when teachers collectively unite to bring the communities together, it can change the destiny of a nation.

The Implementation

While the ideas of creating collaborative networks, publishing teaching methods, writing grants and weaving the community together sound wonderful, the reality is that teachers are underpaid and have no time (most correct papers, lesson plan and do after school programs in their free time). Below I describe a few ideas on how to incentivize and monetize these initiatives.

Stage 1: Volunteerism

In the first stage of implementation, everything will rely on the devotional volunteer work of passionate people that are willing to sacrifice their minimal time and work for free. These people are driven by the realization of a dream and the ideal that the community as a whole will benefit. Once these ideas are tested and data is collected, the next step is to write grants that can fund them at a larger scale.

Stage 2: Rework the national/local professional development system

Professional development for public school teachers happens through two different avenues. The first are professional development days, in which students go home early while teachers most often spend time on low-return activities. The second are PDPs (professional development points), which are classes/activities that each teacher must collect to advance through the licensing process. In theory it is a great idea because it incentivizes participation in diverse activities. However, in practice, it is just another hurdle to jump over. In my six years of high school teaching, I don’t think I ever obtained anything useful from professional development days or PDP-giving classes/activities.

Instead, I think the professional development days and PDPs should be spent taking classes on grant writing, publishing, and the importance of creating partnerships. Additionally, they should be spent creating collaborations between teachers (across different disciplines and grades), local businesses, NGOs, universities, community groups, and politicians. Finally, they can be used as additional time to accomplish these tasks.

Stage 3: Monetize and incentivize the initiatives at the national/local level

Teachers already make much less money than they should, so it is unfair to expect that they invest so much time in weaving together the community and creating collaborations. Paying senior level teachers as consultants for these tasks can help both sides and is a great way for job growth. Below I give a few examples.

• Most universities have programs that train students to become future teachers. Senior teachers from local high school should be teaching these courses after school. Then, these courses can include an actual practicum in the high school. By creating collaborations and obtaining help from the universities, it will be easier for these teachers to publish their techniques as well.
• At a national policy level:
  • Give significant tax credit to those businesses, NGOs, universities that hire a teacher for the summer to work on development between the organization and the community.
  • Require teachers be hired in the summer as consultants for major policy makers.

Ideas to further the WHS-Brandeis Summer Research Program

To bring WHS and Brandeis together, I propose providing Brandeis graduate students with training and academic credit to develop and implement research projects (such as labs based on yeast, flies, etc).

The original model: Every summer for the last six years, I have run the WHS-Brandeis Summer Research Program (described in detail in the Teaching->WHS-Brandeis Program section), where each student is paired with a Brandeis graduate student or postdoc usually from the neuroscience, biology, physics, and psychology departments. For 6-7 weeks, the students work on inquiry-based STEM research projects in the labs. They also take 2 informal classes and write a final research paper on their projects, which many submit as supplementary material in their college applications. I am proud to report that the program is free to all of the students and that it has operated with mostly zero budget (one year I got a grant where I could give very small honorariums to the mentors). I am equally proud to report that I never rejected a student, as long as a student was truly passionate and dedicated, I accepted them no matter what their grades were. It brings me happiness when I see students who are not considered 'top' students based on GPA, nevertheless show tremendous growth and research ability in my program. Over the five years that I ran it, 40 students passed through. While I did not select for it, populations that are often underrepresented in STEM were well represented in the program: 70% were female and 65% were minorities (including several first generation).

The problem: The program only affects a very limited number of students (6-8 students per summer) and does not focus on mentor training.

The goals: The overall objective is to scale up the WHS-Brandeis Summer Research Program so that many more high school students are trained to conduct research and many more graduate/postdocs are trained to develop and teach inquiry-based STEM research projects.

• Goal 1: Create an elective course that runs in high schools during the school day, where high school students receive grades and academic credit. This course will be on Conducting Research and slightly similar in nature to the Bio-lab course at Brandeis. Traditional high school science courses also have a lab component, however those labs are designed to teach a specific topic in the state strands that are often also on standardized tests such as the AP or MCAS. Because of the pressure to advance to the next topic quickly, these labs are not inquiry-based or open-ended. Additionally students are not able to propose their own projects and learn how to overcome a series of failures to design a well controlled experiment. In this elective course, students will learn:
  • How to examine and explore the world to generate many ideas, some of which are multidisciplinary (moving beyond science). In the process, convince any student that they can be inquisitive about the world and generate innovative and creative ideas.
  • How to conduct literature review to obtain a thorough comprehension of prior experiments and where the current gaps in knowledge exist.
  • How to use the literature review and available resources to select the most feasible ideas and design a controlled experiment.
  • How to create collaborations
  • How to design a controlled experiment that will reveal something fascinating regardless of positive or negative results.
  • How to go through several iterations of failures to converge at a successful experimental design.
  • How to analyze data and do basic statistics
  • How to make valid conclusions based on results
  • How to write research-style papers
• Goal 2: Create a true collaborative connection between WHS and Brandeis where graduate students and postdocs are trained and then obtain academic credit for developing and teaching inquiry-based STEM research projects at WHS.
  • There are many types of research at Brandeis which can be generalized and cheaply run at a high school. I list a few examples below many of which were experienced by students in my program:
    • Visuomotor adaptation experiments only require a computer and a mouse/joystick (or displacement prism glasses).
    • Visual Pendulum balancing experiments only require a computer and a joystick
    • Virtual Reality experiments only require a computer
    • Many of the survey-based experiments conducted by the psychology department at Brandeis only need computers. Two summer students have worked on such projects.
    • Many of the visual-stimulus reaction-time experiments conducted by the psychology department only need computers.
    • Many experiments with yeast require only basic supplies. Some truly innovative lesson plans have been been developed by Dr. Ranjith Anand.
    • Many experiments with flies, bacteria and c.elegans could potentially be designed to involve minimal resources.
    • Many experiments with granular materials, such as the properties of sand, can be conducted with minimal resources. A number of summer students have worked on projects like these.
  • Create a real training program for interested graduate students and postdocs that want to teach and design curriculum (see the Teaching-> Mentoring section for more details). These mentors will receive academic credit, possible through an experiential learning class.
• Future Goal 1: Design the course so that groups and projects are multidisciplinary in nature. For example, one group might have students interested in art, health, science and business. They may propose to create some sort of prosthetic device. In the first phase everyone will work on the science of movement and based on their results they will artistically design a prosthetic which they will try to sell.
• Future Goal 2: Eventually create a high school level journal where the students submit their work that is peer-reviewed by local graduate students and then publish their findings. This could eventually be showcased in the school.
• Future Goal 3: Generalize this model to other communities and countries. Eventually create a network that spans the globe, so that students can start creating multinational collaborative networks.

Implementation

It is uncertain whether this idea is even possible. If I were to pursue it, here are the steps:

• Phase 1: Reach out to key WHS teachers and administrators to determine whether this is feasible. Determine the steps needed to create an elective course and whether it is necessary to go through school committee. Alternatively, determine whether it is easier to take over a science-prep course. Phase 1 could potentially be completed with the next 2 months.
• Phase 2: If Phase 1 passes, I would need to reach out the administration at Brandeis to see if I could implement this idea. We could potentially give academic credit through an Experiential Learning course, which would only require a host course. Phase 2 can most likely be completed in the same 2 months.
• Phase 3: If Phase 2 passes, we will have to develop the rough skeletal lesson plans on which graduate students will add their creativity. There are a few people that I know, including myself, that would donate their time to do this. Some ideas for lesson plans are listed above. This would take about 1 year. I would also make a youtube video series on how to teach each of these sections.
• Phase 4: In parallel with Phase 3, we can apply for grants to obtain funding for the program. This will also take about 1 year.
• Phase 5: If everything goes well, our first class could run in the Fall of 2018

Ideas for High School Portfolio development

Portfolio Development

When I was younger, I wouldn't allow myself to dream because I was paralyzed by a sense of complete failure. At that time in my life, my entire identity was defined by being a student. And when I was unsuccessful as a student, I felt like a failure of life. As I grew older I realized that everyone is capable of producing beauty and that fast intellectual processing speed and large memory capacities are not the only ingredients for accomplishing things of value. I was able to liberate myself from the prison of my 'bad' grades because of small successive victories that I obtained from many opportunities that eventually built my portfolio (I provide a powerpoint that explains this in the Teaching->High School section).

Therefore, in my opinion, in additional to the traditional methods of assessment in public schools, there needs to be a parallel and equal focus on the development of each student's portfolio of projects. This way students that are not traditionally gifted in academics can still excel and grow through benchmark assignments/projects that will increase their confidence and make them think, "Oh, wow, I can really create something amazing, even if I am not a top student". These portfolios will make students more competitive for colleges and employment. Below I outline a few steps that I think would help.

• Phase 1: Create a framework and provide many examples to teachers on projects that would really amplify a student's portfolio. For this to be successful, teachers will have to become very good at taking a rough undeveloped student idea and adding rigor and feasibility to it. For example a good project might include:
  • Proposing a novel idea that examines an open-ended question that does not currently have a specific answer. This would require a student to master the literature and knowledge specific to the subject matter relevant to the idea.
  • Showcasing a technique, method, and/or skill that is valued in research or employment. Here are few examples:
    • Physics: regression analysis (using excel), basic statistical analysis (e.g standard deviation), mathematically deriving equations specific to a project, projects that confirm theoretical calculations with experimental finding, etc
    • Biology: serial dilution, basic genetic manipulations, etc
  • Designing an experiment that collects data and can convincingly produces results.
  • Analysis and interpretation of Data.
• Phase 2: Popularize and incentivize allocating significant class time to the development of these projects. Possibly replace final exams with projects that span multiple topics covered in the year. Alternatively, summer reading could be replaced (or altered) by these sorts of projects. This would require a teacher per grade to provide light mentorship and guidance over the summer.
• Phase 3: Create contacts with local universities, NGOs, businesses to find potential mentors to guide student-led projects. By creating these partnerships, students can take a very active role in studying and proposing solutions to problems around the city. At the beginning of the school year, there should be presentations and awards. The projects should be highlighted by the local news (e.g. Wicked Local Waltham, local access cable channel).
• Phase 4: Raise money to support this.

Opportunities and MicroGrants

In my opinion, the easiest way to fuel portfolio development, career growth, and self confidence is having access to an abundance of eclectic opportunities. Sadly there are nearly no opportunities for public school students and surprisingly few even for undergraduates and especially none for the rest of the adult population. I am a strong advocate for creating incubators that lead to microgrants. I discuss this in greater detail below, along with a few other ideas for summer opportunities:

• Internships: As mentioned elsewhere in this document, schools must create lasting and strong partnerships with local businesses, NGOs and universities. The government should provide tax incentives to motivate these collaborations. In the summer, students should work on student-driven projects with these groups, where they do more than just menial work but rather are trained with new skills and mentored to develop their own ideas.
• 3 day start-up challenge. Brandeis has 2 of these every year, and they consist of bringing together a group of students for 3 days and teaching them the fundamentals of starting and pitching a business idea. In that time they brainstorm, develop and propose their ideas as potential startups. This can be a great way for students to obtain mentorship and confidence to propose ideas. With the help of Brandeis, WHS could host one of their own or potentially they could send a high school team to Brandeis. In my opinion, I would de-emphasize the role of a singular winner because it often invalidates the invested time all other groups have invested. Instead, I would focus on having a panel of expert 'judges' that give a series of advice on how to advance the idea further. That way, the true gift is that of detailed mentorship.
• 3D printathon and hackathon. Brandeis has a few of these, where students spend all night brainstorming and then 3D printing a solution to a proposed problem. In the past, in collaboration with Ian Roy (Brandeis MakerLab), we have hosted teams from Waltham High School and they have won either 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize 3 years in a row, competing against all other college groups. It is amazing. These high school students spent all night, developing and implementing an idea underneath the mentorship of an expert undergrad who taught them the basic skills needed. Multiplying events like these that encourage greater high school participation could be transformative for many students. I would, de-emphasize the winner and focus more on portfolio development (i.e. how each group can create a working product that can be featured in their portfolio).
• Incubator->Microgrants. Microgrants could revolutionize education, collaboration and idea generation. In contrast to grants offered in universities, I would not make it selective where only a few obtain the money. The philosophical idea that governs K-12 education is that every student is capable of brilliance and it is not a matter of selecting the best but rather making everyone operate at their level of excellence. Therefore, I would propose that any student who is passionate enough to get through an incubator program should be promised a microgrant ranging from $50-$100. For this to work, a funding source will need to be found.
  • Incubator: Based on interest and with assistance, they will form collaborative groups with other students. They will be lead through a variety of structured brainstorming techniques to help them develop their vision. They will be taught how to write a grant proposal and how to pitch their ideas. They will be taught how to use and allocate the money and how to report their findings.
  • Microgrant: I imagine hundreds of microgrants ranging from $50-$100. Below is one example composed of multiple grants that I implemented a few summers ago at the Prospect Hill Community Center.
    • Biology+Engineering+Business+Art: (I partnered with an undgrad who got a Davis Peace Grant and was given the title of 'educational program director'. I wove in MCAS topics while teaching vermicomposting and inquiry-based experiments and ideation. It was interesting, because I had a group of about 7 students and they all worked together even though the youngest was in elementary school and the oldest was in high school. My budget was only around $100 or so and I was able to minimally implement grant ideas 1-4 and we were ready to do 5 but ran out of time).
      • Grant 1: Science and Engineering students collaborate to develop a working vermicomposting station that reliably takes kitchen plant waste and converts it into rich fertilizer. Using concepts from ecology, make a presentation about vermicomposting.
      • Grant 2: Science and business oriented students collaborate to develop a business model, scale this operation up and try to find people that will buy the compost.
      • Grant 3: Science oriented students collaborate to propose, design and conduct scientific experiments that don't currently have answers. For example, 'What is the effect of food diversity on the output of compost?'; 'Does providing chambered rooms accelerate production?'; 'Does having a light-dark cycle affect production of compost?'.
      • Grant 4: Science, art and engineering students collaborate to use 3D printing to innovate tools that can facilitate the process. For example, small scale vermicompost operations typically have to manually sort out the worms and food from the compost.
      • Grant 5: Science, art, engineering and business oriented students collaborate to create a boardgame based on vermicomposting, using 3D printing to create pieces, and then sell it.

Ideas for a course on American Identity

I describe a few rough ideas for a course on American Identity in the American Identity section, Stage 5.