My View on STEM Education

Pre-reading

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. These academic subjects are taught in the education system. There is more of an emphasis and a push now for students to learn about subjects in these four disciplines. Science may include classes such as biology and chemistry. Technology may include computer science. Engineering may include robotics. Mathematics may include algebra and geometry. STEM disciplines push students to question and make observations more so now than before in these areas.

I think that STEM education is important because there are many fields out there that are underrepresented with the amount of STEM disciplinary concepts they contain. There are many fields that deal with computer or mathematical operations like programming and even finance. There is a lack of women in these fields and it is important to increase them in these workforces. Because things in our world are constantly changing these fields are becoming more and more important to help find ways to better support the growing population and in discovering more environments outside this world. Without STEM, the emphasis on the growth in these industries would not be a prevalent.

STEM needs to be emphasized in the public education system. Due to a lack of females in this fields, there is a need to have new fresh minds in those roles to help discover new and more effective possibilities for people. STEM is what helps human beings advance as a civilization and do things more efficiently. Without improvements in medicine and technology, we would still be living in primitive times.

Post Reading

After further research, that there is a lack of diversity in the workforce (Bidwell, 2015). Women and minorities are very under represented. In the US, “we do not encourage out female students to pursue career paths in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (Purcell, 2013). In addition, the current workforce is growing older and this may stunt the growth of new ideas and innovations to take place. I can see this being an issue because recently I had my boss ask me to set up his email on his phone because he did not know how; he is in his sixties. There are other times that I am asked to do something or check something out on social media, and I have to ask one of my students how to find it, where is it, or can you show me what they are talking about? I have noticed also that nowadays a lot of my students are very savvy with their cell phones and cannot seem to get it from in front of their face. The upside I see to this is any question that I may have about social media, they can easily tell me. The new generation is become more reliant on technology and social media and that is something that the current workforce lacks.

With this current generation being more immersed in their cell phones, this is something that does not always have to be seen as a negative in the classroom and can be used to help increase their understanding in a STEM curriculum. In the article Student Solutions to Global Problems: STEM Education in South Carolina, students using their cells phones had been highlighted as something that the teacher can take advantage of as a resource to help support student learning. Technology can allow the students to find resources to help them and they can use it to interact with others and can allow them to get creative like the students in the article that created a 3D Braille Printer and an app for measuring carbon sequestration.

Though I thought I knew a lot about STEM, there was still much I did not know. After reading some articles, it seemed that there was problem with the amount of lack of interest and the growing “age” of the current workforce in STEM careers. This will possible halt our pace in creating advancements and when new technology can be available. If us as teachers start by promoting and building interest from the school years, then there may be more input, continuing advancements. “As repetitive tasks are eroded by technology and outsourcing, the ability to solve novel problems has become increasingly vital” (Deangelis, 2018). STEM subjects teach life skills that other subjects outside of STEM may not address making them also very important to emphasis as our students go up the ladder in the public education system.

References

Bidwell, A. (2015). STEM Workforce No More Diverse Than 14 Years Ago. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2015/02/24/stem-workforce-no-more-diverse-than-14-years-ago

Purcell, K. D. (2013, March 8). 5 Ways to Get Girls into STEM. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-ways-girls-involved-STEM-karen-purcell

Mason, R. (2017). Student Solutions to Global Problems: STEM Education in South Carolina. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/student-solutions-to-glob_b_8591808?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlYmluZGVycy5jb20vcGxheS9wbGF5P2lkPTE4ODM2MTQ&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF9cU29FAzVjU05rzvzqgfh_Z-i_NGw_JXPFAlV0vUNnp87NuJHoEIsNDBE2wNGHUnAEgLsIoEFJEXm6h6D5neIjB9qWHLhChVE6G3rrGl9XIF2V0htxd5vfI4JVnbs_Rh4IcaTwwt23moDGIUHbNTOETjjDscenxLDfzxN__KO5

Stephen F. DeAngelis, E. S. (2015). Why STEM? Success Starts With Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving Skills. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/06/stem-success-starts-critical-thinking-problem-solving-skills/

IEP Meetings

When watching the IEP process, I was able to see each step that is taken in creating student IEPs. I found it interesting that there was a huge emphasis on the parent involvement in the process. At my current school, I do not see as much parent involvement in the process. Parent involvement is very important because they know the student the best. They know student history, strengths, and weaknesses and can help to create the most beneficial and effective IEP for the student (Kupper). The parent can give their input on what may or may not work for their child.

The IEP team consists of the parent, general education teacher, special education teacher, school district representative, and school psychologist. Out of this team, I think that the most challenging role is the parent. This is because the parent is responsible for making sure that their child is receiving the services they need and that their IEP is the most effective. I noticed in the IEP meeting that the parents felt that some of the goals may have been a little much for their child and reducing their child’s special education time was not a good idea because their child was behind. When the parents spoke up, the meeting coordinator agreed to keep the special education time. Though the school members of the IEP team are trying to do what they can to make the student successful, sometimes the parents know better when it comes to the student’s needs.

At my current school, I have not attended many IEP meetings, so I never really knew the best way to help them when it came to the IEP process. After watching the mock IEP meeting, I know better how I can help my students with IEP during meetings and moving forward. One thing that I will do is ask the meeting coordinator to have the student join the meeting. Seeing how the team talked with the student and took some of his input helped the IEP process in getting the student his needs. Another thing I will be sure to do is to keep work samples. I do not keep much student work because I want them to have their work to be able to study from, but when I would be asked for input about a student on be invited to IEP meetings, I would not have any samples to help. I now will be sure to make a copy of any work that I feel will help to address the goals on their IEP. Thoroughly reading the IEP will also help me to create the best accommodations or modifications for the student. There is a lot that goes into making and IEP, so to help my students, I need to thoroughly read and understand their disability and needs. In meetings, I need to speak up more about what I think the student can achieve and ways to help them. In the meetings that I have gone to, I was there for a short period of time to give minimal input and was told I could leave. After watching the meeting, it is important that everyone on the team stays the entire time to be sure that everyone is on the same page.

References

Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center. (2011, October 30). The IEP Team Process: Chapter 1 – IDEA and IEPs. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=94&v=bSm3wOjkkVw

Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center. (2011, October 30). The IEP Team Process: Chapter 2 – The IEP Team. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMctXPmG7bc

Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center. (2011, October 30). The IEP Team Process: Chapter 3 – What’s Included in the IEP. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIi0xanOVcs

Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center. (2011, October 30). The IEP Team Process: Chapter 4 – Getting Ready for the IEP Meeting [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDhLjYSbwCc

Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center. (2011, October 28). The IEP Team Process: Chapter 5 – The IEP Meeting. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok0irMNfKmY

Kupper, L. & Kohanek, J. (2000, July). “The IEP Team Members.” Reading Rockets. Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/iep-team-members

Somebody Else's Kids- Claudia

In Torey Hayden’s Somebody Else’s Kids, four extraordinary students are highlighted, Boo, Lori, Tomaso, and Claudia. They each struggle with learning disabilities and throughout the book, Torey addresses each one in a different way. She is compassionate towards her students and is dedicated to giving them the best chances for success in her classroom by trying different ways of helping them. One student that she goes above and beyond for is Claudia.

Claudia is a well-behaved 12-year-old honors student who came from a private school on the other side of town. She has had no history of being a bad student, behaviorally or academically. She struggled was being pregnant. Due to the lack of educational programs for pregnant students, Claudia was placed in Torey’s class. Torey also noticed something else about her that Claudia was struggling with that no other one of her teachers had seen as an issue. She struggled with being immensely shy, becoming physically ill when presenting in front of people and had to be coerced to work in groups.

To accommodate Claudia, Torey made may efforts to help her be successful. Academically, Torey would have all of Claudia’s assignments ready for her when she entered the class because Claudia, in the beginning, was not interested in socializing. To help with her social skills, Torey would encourage Claudia to work with others in the group. This was demonstrated when Torey joins the group when they are painting because she had seen Claudia just watching and when Torey joined, Claudia began to participate and loosen up. She began laughing with the group and volunteered to help others in the group. Torey also took the time to get to know more about Claudia and showed care for her. Torey also gave Claudia responsibilities in the classroom, for example working with Boo to help her social skills. Torey also made attempts to build a relationship with Claudia’s parents by inviting them to informal meetings to give them incite to what the program for Claudia and to try and work with them to help Claudia, though they were not very interested in helping. Torey does give Claudia an outlet to talk about her pregnancy and other problems and worked to find her support groups.

Though Torey did as much as she could to accommodate Claudia, there were some setbacks. The first setback was Claudia’s lack of social skills. She entered the classroom very shy and timid with little interest in interacting with the group or even Torey. The next setback was Claudia’s parents not being on board with seeking help for their daughter. Torey made multiple attempts to try and reach out to Claudia’s parents at the meetings, encouraging them to get Claudia help to deal with her pregnancy, the baby, and educate her on the process. They were very resistant and saw Torey’s attempts to be helpful as crossing the boundaries. Claudia’s father, mainly, only saw things his way and did not think his daughter needed help in dealing with anything. Another setback was that Torey allowed Claudia to come to her and talk about her situation and everything, which could be seen by others as crossing a teacher-student relationship boundary.

With the setbacks that Torey faced in trying to accommodate and help Claudia, this did cause some potential issues. With Claudia’s social anxieties, it made it hard for her in interact with others and have friends at her Catholic School. Her previous teachers acknowledged her shyness, but it was not need as a hindrance because she academically thrived. This issue was noticed by Torey when Claudia came to her class because she would come in, grab her folder, and work on her assignments before going home at the end. She did not socialize with the other students voluntarily at first. Another potential issue for Claudia is that since her parents, mostly her father, were not on board with helping her seek help to deal with her pregnancy and social issues, Claudia suffered before meeting Torey. If this had continued, Claudia would be more socially distant from others and she may have continued with another suicide attempt.

If Claudia was a student in my mathematics classroom, I would try many different things to accommodate her. Because Claudia was an excellent student, I would focus more on her social anxieties. I would have her focus on her academics to help continue her education, but I might have her display her understanding of the concepts by teaching it to the other students. She struggles immensely with presenting in front of a large group, so I would have her teach one or two students at a time. I would also give her responsibilities in helping to improve lessons for the other students, by allowing her to create her own lessons for topics we are learning. I would also direct students to her if they needed extra assistance and treat her almost as a co-teacher. Giving Claudia jobs to help the other students forces her to interact with others, which can help her become more confident in social settings.

In my classroom, though I have been able to see how Torey was able to help her, I think I would still have some challenges. I have students that come to me with every problem they have in their lives, so I do not think it would be a challenge to allow Claudia to feel accepted and cared about by me. I think the struggle would be more getting the rest of the students in the class to accept her because students can be very judgmental with those who are different from them. I also think that I would struggle getting parental involvement because I have called many parents in my few years at my current school and I have had parents say they have given up on their kid and I have had parents say they will talk to them but if they don’t want to they won’t. Not becoming discouraged to help my student may be a struggle because as an educator, there is only so much I can do, but I would stop trying to help as much as possible.

Claudia struggled with more social skills than academia. Her pregnancy then further hindered her ability to make friends and be accepted by her family and her previous school. Torey accommodated her by giving her supports, a person to come to for guidance, and pushing her socially. Though there were setbacks with Claudia’s family not being fully onboard with seeking counseling or supports for her during her pregnancy, Torey still managed to give her a person to talk to who actually cared. I think that if Claudia were a student in my classroom, I would try similar tactics to help with her social skills, though it may take some time for the other students to accept her.

References

Hayden, T. (1981). Somebody Else’s Kids. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.