the power of STEAM and Effective Teaching (Fieldwork, Task 1)

For my first fieldwork task, I had the pleasure of interviewing a 3rd-5th grade STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) teacher. She has been teaching in her district for over 20 years, but this is her first year as a STEAM teacher. She was hired as the first ever teacher of this kind in the district, and was thrilled to accept the position. Her previous classrooms include Pre-K, Kindergarten, & First Grade. When speaking with Mrs. C, she was nothing but passionate and enthusiastic about her new position! She spoke about the effectiveness and the importance of a teacher truly knowing their students, so that their learning needs can be met, i.e: the way in which a student learns. Mrs. C forms connections with her students beginning on the first day of school. This has been her routine since she first began her teaching career. She builds strong bonds with her students, which motivates and encourages them to try their best, every day.  

• What effective teaching principles do you follow to reach every child in your classroom?

*I look to see which learning modality the child learns best through, Kinetic, auditory, visual or a combination and then differentiate the lesson to their meet their needs.

*I create lessons that try to meet a combination of learning styles.

*Work in small groups to pre teach or review lessons given to the whole class or work with small groups based on ability to teach specific lessons.

* I ask many open ended, higher level questions and keep an open environment that there are no bad answers, a wrong response or mistake only helps to lead to a better answer. Brainstorming leads to stronger and more interesting answers. The first answers are not always the best.

• What latest research are you referring to in your teaching design.

*As a STEAM teacher, my lessons are project based, using the Engineering design process. We are also fostering an atmosphere of perseverance and not giving up when the design as planned doesn’t work. That learning comes from failure (FAIL-first attempt in learning) and learning growth from not giving up on finding a solutions. This year I am also researching many different robotics programs that allow for creative discovery such as LittleBits, Code.org, BeeBots (https://www.bee-bot.us/), Lego robotics, Dash and Dot, and Spero.

• In what ways does the research on effective teaching empowers teachers' continued learning process?

*My role as a STEAM teacher requires me to create or research activities which bind together experiences with Science, math, engineering technology and the arts. The lessons not only look at the STEAM activity but includes writing, research and creative problem solving.