Watching the “Getting Emotion” portion of Shaundra Daily’s “Secret Life” segment really hit home for me as an educator. It brings me back many years when I was teaching fifth grade. I had a brilliant and very likeable student, John (not his real name) in my class. And he had a personal connection to the very recent 9/11 attack. He was very articulate, but had become a bit of a loner and when asked to write or do any work that required putting pencil to paper, he would barely get any work done. Alternate tools can help you reach a student As you can imagine, this would affect anyone’s feelings of self-worth. A student who could clearly be at the top of a class might suddenly feel like he was “failing,” yet this simply wasn’t the case. Besides, these were apparently new behaviors for John.

I soon discovered that by allowing John to use a few alternate tools, he was able to participate and express himself in ways that for some reason, hadn’t worked before. What did I do? I offered him a few tools I had in the classroom. One was for writing. I had a few computers in my classroom and we had the software, Kidspiration, a visual word-mapping tool that allowed John to create a diagram of his story ideas and then type them out. He had a lot to say, but simply couldn’t get it down on paper; but he sure could type. I wish I had kept some of his work! I encouraged John’s parents to download the 30-day free (full) version so that he could use it at home as well. I believe they ended up buying it because it really helped him with all his subjects.

I love how Judy Lee explains how building things brings the two sides of her brain together. As teachers, that’s something we’re always trying to help our students achieve. Judy also mentions the importance of working in teams to solve problems. Ernie has super-throwing (and freezing!) powers. It’s not an easy task to incorporate all of this into our lessons; yet it can be, if we look towards others for examples.

Ernie Easter is an exemplary teacher in New Sweden, Maine and a gentleman whom I have never met in person. He reached out to me via a simple, often educationally-underestimated social networking tool, Twitter. Ernie had an idea for a competition in his class. He would organize his 7th grade students into groups of 3 or 4 and assign the task of designing an insulated package that would house a snowball that could be shipped intact to our school in South Florida. Ernie would provide dry ice but the rest would be up to the students. Once the package arrived, my 4th grade students would record their observations of the snowball and the packaging and report our findings back to Ernie’s class. This would be enriching and very exciting on so many levels. Many of my students had never seen snow, they were just learning about recording observations, they would also be working in teams to observe and record, and they would be designing a way to report back to Ernie’s teams. Additionally my students would be working to share this project with others in our school and outside our school, using some type of medium of their choice, whether it be a poster, newsletter, blog post, Glogster, Voicethread, video, photo montage, or any other idea of their own.

I challenge educators out there to find another teacher somewhere in the world and make a connection. There are many venues for finding other educators who are interested in collaborating on simple but rewarding projects guaranteed! Here are a few to get you started (some require an account but all are free): Teachers Connecting, PBS Teachers, and Twitter 4 Teachers.

In “10 Questions for Allan,” Allan Adams is asked how often he makes mistakes. His response is “daily.” Although most adults would not be surprised at such an answer, most of my young students would likely be confused as to how someone who is so smart and successful could make so many mistakes. In their worlds, making mistakes equates to not being smart. It’s so important for me to try to reshape my students’ view of failure, success, and the value of learning through making mistakes. How could this ever be considered a faux pas?

Students would be interested to learn that many mistakes lead to not only further learning, but also inventions:

Chocolate chip cookies were invented by mistake. In 1930, Ruth Wakefield was running the Toll House Inn and was baking her chocolate butter cookies when she realized she was out of Baker’s chocolate. So she broke pieces of sweetened chocolate into the mix and expected the dough to absorb the chocolate. She was surprised to see that it hadn’t, but the results were equally delicious. We are still enjoying Toll House Cookies today, thanks to someone’s mistake that worked.

Watching the videos of Stephon Alexander had me thinking about music in so many different ways. My students may be too young to fully understand what a Theoretical Physicist does, but they aren’t too young to see the connection between science and music. The Exploratorium has an interactive section devoted to the science of music. This site is terrific for all grade levels. You can experiment with different sounds and instruments and read about the science behind the sounds themselves. The video below is from PalmBreezeCAFE where I demonstrate a few key features of this fascinating site. After having your students watch the videos of Stephon Alexander, why not take them on a “field trip” to the Exploratorium?

If you read my last post, you know my students have been wading into the world of scientists by sharing their prior experiences and ideas on what scientists “really” do. I shared a glimpse of one student’s response by posting Demetrius’ poster, but as promised, below is a slideshow of the rest of the students’ actual posters as well. If you click through the slideshow and want to read one in particular, just click on the image and you’ll be taken to the source. There you will be able to easily read their writing. I love some of the ideas the students shared. For example, “Scientists are very serious,” “They always look through magnifying glasses,” “Scientists are people who study things from the future,” and my all-time favorite “After a hard day at work, they take a nap and dream about their hard day tomorrow.” Enjoy!

I am lots of things. I’m a teacher, mother, wife, blogger, public speaker, and even a co-host of a local TV show, but one thing I’m not is a scientist.

So when I was approached to guest blog for “Secret Life” this season, I asked myself, “Why me?” After all, I’m not a scientist and this website is all about science. I’m a teacher, and although I do teach science to my 4th graders, I’m not a “science teacher.” So, if I have no special credentials, why would anyone care what I have to say on a website devoted to scientists? Well, I’m pretty sure I figured it out. I just may represent that “average teacher” who knows just enough science to teach it well and yet is constantly seeking those extra, sometimes random nuggets of engaging instructional support. If that’s you too, then we’re here for you—I’m here for you. Through my posts, I hope to create some valuable conversations and share my class’s journey as each new scientist on “Secret Life” is revealed this season.