Living in a college dorm was a unique experience. There were certainly fellow residents I called friends. Then, there were the others. It isn’t that we didn’t like each other. It was simply that we didn’t know each other. How is it possible to live four feet away from someone and not even know their name, much less their major? Looking back, I wished I had overcome the initial awkwardness, walked across the hall, and introduced myself. Sadly, this experience is not unique to dorm life. The same relationship (or lack thereof) exists between industry and education. Besides a few brave exceptions, we tend to stay on our side of the professional fence.  Prior to my Kenan Fellowship, I did not give this issue considerable thought. However, by working with Bayer CropScience and participating in Kenan Fellows professional development, I have become cognizant of how much we have to offer each other.

What education offers Business:

Education 101: Businesses are stakeholders in education. However, that reality comes to life when entering the corporate world. Each research scientist, lab tech, communications specialists, and CEO depended on their education to help them arrive at their position (or even read the job description). To me, that is one of the biggest challenges of education, especially at the younger grades. Although certain students already have a tenacious interest in a subject, they still need a well balanced education so the options are open for whatever the future may hold. It is a real challenge to prepare a child for anything and everything.  I love the saying, “teachers are preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet.” The business dependence on the education world can be summed up in two words ‘dynamic workforce.’

What can businesses offer education?

This is where I get stuck. After spending hours on the Bayer CropScience campus, I am aware of what Bayer has to offer. In fact, my own classroom has benefited from their nationally recognized Making Science Make Sense program. What about the numerous other businesses in my school’s community? What can businesses outside of my own community offer to their local schools? I don’t know yet, but Lindsey and I are on a mission to find out! We are possibly changing directions in our curriculum product. (Thanks Craig for the input.) It is comfortable for us to design lessons for other teachers (which is what we originally planned). However, we are leaning more towards developing a teacher training on leveraging local businesses to promote student growth. First, we have to identify what they have to offer. Both of us are meeting with our cities’ Chamber of Commerce and local business leaders to see what insight they have. I will update this blog on any new insights after our meetings. At this point, our product is back to the drawing board to answer a new question, “How can educators invite businesses into their world to promote student learning?”

Today’s Takeaway: Businesses and education can transform their symbiotic relationship to model the acacia tree and ants….where both species benefit!

Today’s takeaway: Reflect on your actions and make a plan of action to improve: here’s mine based on my fellowship thus far.

One of the best things about teaching is the opportunity to start over each year. In what other profession do you have a fresh slate every August? In my time at Bayer Crop, I’ve already identified some things that will change the way I teach this year.

My Outlook:

*It may sound silly, but when I was growing up, I thought being a scientist wasn’t a real career opportunity. I thought it was the academic equivalent of wanting to be Spiderman.  Now that I have met so many scientists, I want to encourage my kids to view STEM careers (particularly research and development) as legitimate career opportunities. I am brainstorming ways to help students who do not fit the stereotype to see themselves as scientists. I liked the Students Discover shirts that said “This is what a scientist looks like.” I do not have a distinct plan of action for addressing this issue, but I am working on it. I like the title “Labs to Lockers.”

New  Possibilities:

*I have really enjoyed the professional development on “Getting Your Voice Heard With Legislators.” The political maze can be overwhelming, but I have some simple, yet effective, tools to begin this process. I plan to contact my NCGA members very soon.

What Will I Do Differently:

*This year I want to teach concepts and attach the real-world application to it. For example, when we did the strawberry DNA extraction last week, my students and I discussed forensics and genetically modified foods as practical applications of the experiment.

Affirming My Ideals:

*I love my job and take it very seriously. The Kenan Fellowship has fed that fire.  Sometimes I am afraid of burnout, but I have reassured myself that participating in opportunities like this will strengthen a long and happy career. In this post’s visual, you will see data showing a decline in teacher education programs across the state. The political causes are obvious, but I do believe this field is valuable and worth pursuing, even when it is not popular.

Challenges:

*Balance: As I write this blog in the Wake Med emergency room, I struggle to find the balance with school/Kenan Fellows/personal life. When a friend calls and asks you for a ride to the emergency room, the proper response is, “Yes,” not “No, I have to write a blog post.”

*Content knowledge: There is SO much to learn. I feel overwhelmed at times. I haven’t had a Biology class since 2000. (I am loving this challenge, but it is a challenge nonetheless.)

*Product: I want our product to be useful for various teaching settings, so I am challenging myself to think outside of my personal teaching context.

Successes:

*My students participated in a lab from my product this week. (An advantage to year round school. I get to test lessons early! Plenty of time for revision.)

*I’ve learned so much and have made many connections to my curriculum (even at the 5th grade level).

*My students are loving science! Interesting thoughts as I sit here in the ER and wonder if a teacher inspired the medical staff here.

*My latest tweet had a lot of favorites and retweets this week. (A lot is a relative term, but this is still all new to me!)

Today’s takeaway:  Challenges and successes are really the same thing. The only difference is time and hard work.

One of my classroom rules is to “Leave a place better than you found it.” That means if you see trash on the ground, pick it up. It also means math class should be more productive, because you are present. My first week at Bayer CropScience, I immediately began asking myself, “How can I leave this place better than I found it.” It is a challenging question to ask, because Bayer is an amazing place. However, it is an important question since this is Bayer’s first year participating in the program, and I want them to have a positive experience and be eager to participate next year. Lindsey and I decided to work on two specific outcomes for Bayer: Making Science Make Sense (MSMS) and the Bee Care Center field trip program.

Bayer is an obvious stakeholder in science education, because they want to hire well-qualified scientists and to market to scientifically literature consumers. MSMS is a Bayer initiative to ignite a passion for science and promote scientific literacy among students (AKA future scientists and consumers).  Through the MSMS program, Bayer CropScience sends employee volunteers into local classrooms to share about their work and do experiments with students. This program impacts 3,000 students annually. However, at the present time, most of the material is related to other aspects of Bayer, and not CropScience. They have engaging experiments, but when employees explain their career, and the students participate in the experiments, there is a disconnect. Bayer CropScience would like for us as Kenan Fellows to develop lessons that are connected with Agricultural Science. We have identified big ideas in Ag Science, such as symbiosis, micro-organisms, and genetics to base the program. We will create a pre/post “test” so the program will have data to validate its impact. (As teachers, we love data, right?) After writing all the experiments into a user-friendly document, we will conduct a training session in December for employees to walk through the experiments to prepare them for working with students.

Our second Kenan goal at Bayer is to further development the field trip program. Upon our initial visit to the Bee Care Center, the staff shared with us that many groups, including students, come to the Bee Care Center and Greenhouse 5 for tours. After participating in one of tours, Lindsey and I agreed the Bee Care Center is a fascinating place. It has only been open one year, so we would like to help them develop a stronger field trip program. It would be wonderful for more students to come see the real-world connections to their science classes at Bayer’s site. We would like to ensure student engagement. Let’s face it: There is always a student or two counting ceiling tiles, while the tour guide shares about the role of the queen, worker bees, and drones in the hive. I thought of how when I attend the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, they had cards you had to “check off” as you visited various sections of the museum. A scavenger hunt (or similar tool) would help engage students by establishing  concrete goals for the tour. Also, we would like to structure the MSMS into the total field trip program, so students actually complete a couple of experiments during their visit. We brainstormed ways to turn the field trip into a Citizen Science activity, in which students proactively promote bee care after they leave Bayer. (This might look similar to Bayer’s “Adopt a Bee” program in which you plant flowers that will attract pollinators.)  Ideally, we would like to have Lindsey’s class visit while I am at the Bee Care Center, so they can be our Guinea pigs for our field trip modifications.  We need to work through the logistics of our ideas, such as identifying who will run the field trip activities for large groups. We will have to see how it works out, but we are excited about the options nonetheless.

At this point, it seems overwhelming to accomplish all of these goals. I am sure not everything will happen as we anticipate. However, Bayer has given us permission to dream big and scale back if necessary. I am also thankful I will be doing part of my internship in September and December, so I can have more time to refine these programs. If we even accomplish fifty percent of these goals, I am convinced we will leave Bayer CropScience “better than we found it.”

For anyone interested: Bayer offers a FREE MSMS teacher workshop every June. If you are interested, please click: here

Today’s Take away: Leave a place

better than you found it.

#1 Be the best possible STEM educator I can be. Now that I am a couple of weeks in to the program, I have found that my ultimate goal remains constant. If I do anything in education, it needs to benefit my students. They are the reason I go to work each day. It will be exciting to tell the students about how our unit vocabulary words are a part of the daily language at Bayer Crop, such as inherited traits, DNA, ecosystem, humidity, and photosynthesis. When I entered the Bee Care Center, I saw the same safety symbols I have discussed with my students (pictured below). It is neat to see these foundational ideas woven into the workplace.

#2 Develop the “Making Science Make Sense” program. Bayer Crop employees will be using this program as they volunteer and present in local science classrooms (see next week’s blog). With some adjustments, this will be curriculum Lindsey and I submit for our Kenan product. We will adapt it for the intended audience for both publications (Bayer employees and classroom teachers). I am looking forward to piloting these programs in my classroom, because it is very closely connected with my own curriculum.

#3 A new goal: Promote agricultural awareness.  I do not know exactly what that will look like at this point, but my time at Bayer Crop has opened by eyes to the importance of agricultural science. In the schools where I have taught, agriculture has not been on the curriculum radar. However, the world population is expected to be around 10 million by 2050. With a growing population, the demand for food will continue to rise and the availability of natural resources for farming will decrease. As long as humans continue to eat, agricultural research will be essential. We need to raise a generation of students ready to handle this challenge.

#4  Encourage students to pursue STEM careers. By developing problem thinking skills in my students, I am proactively addressing the need for a STEM-ready workforce. I recently read a report (I wished I could remember where), that most scientists expressed an interest in science by the age of 11. Yes, that is fifth grade! My students! If we wait until middle school to grow their love for science, we miss a window that may never open again. Students need to see themselves as scientists. When asked to draw a scientist, most elementary aged students draw a picture of a Caucasian male in a white lab coat with glasses. This stereotype may very well prevent some of my students from pursing a genuine interest in science, because they do not see it as a feasible career for themselves. Even for students who choose to pursue a career outside of the STEM world, they need basic scientific literacy to make choices as a citizen and a consumer. For example, many people do not know what is meant by the word organic and are understandably cautious about what they eat. Accurate information promotes wise choices, rather than decisions based on fear and rumors from social media. An ability to read and decipher scientific text will be an essential skill for students to be well-adapted into a technology driven society.

#5 Network as much as possible. Our week at NCCAT was instrumental in getting to know the other fellows. It was neat to hear about others’ projects, and the ideas they already incorporate into their classrooms. I LOVE hearing what others are doing for their students. One of my favorite teacher adages is “beg, borrow, and steal.” I find the best educators are as equally excited to share as they are to receive. Lindsey also teaches fifth grade, and I am sure we will be sharing resources all year! As long as I am intentional about networking, there will be results I cannot yet perceive. It is also important to network at Bayer Crop, because I am learning so much from the people there. For example, Kurt works in the greenhouse and is an amazing resource to learn about biotechnology. He will be sharing with my students this year. Also, I am hoping to have him review the Making Science Make Sense materials to identify if there are any potential scientific misconceptions in the way the material is presented to students. I believe one of our best resources will always be people, and I do not want to miss an opportunity.

WOW! It will be a busy year! I am ready!

Today’s Takeaway: Learn as much as you can, whenever you can from whomever you can. (That’s my plan for getting the most out of my fellowship!)