Energy Educators Workshop Tidbits from Monnet & Nelson

Energy Education Workshop Tidbits

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

What we learned from our Energy Workshop

We had the opportunity to tour the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant (hardhats required!) and were impressed with the high level of security (yes we did challenge their procedure and opened the doors the "wrong" way and had security called down to let us out), and the continuous training the employees go through to ensure the safety of the plant. 

We also toured the Hasting Hydro Plant and got to stand at the bottom of the river with the huge turbines (above our heads) with the Mississippi river water flowing through them! 

MN is required to generate about 20% renewable energy and we learned that we do that (and more) through nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, and biomass. 

The MN Energy Center sponsored this class. We received valuable resources that we will be able to implement into our classrooms next year. 

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The Flipped Classroom

Next week, three  of us from the math department are meeting during curriculum writing to work on the concept of "flipped classrooms."  I have been reading a book called "Flip Your Classroom:  Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day" by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams in order to learn more about it.

In case you don't know, let me explain what a flipped classroom is.  In a nutshell, it is when students learn the material at home via a video, book, or some other method and they do the "homework" problems at school with the teacher and the rest of the class there to help.

The rationale for the flipped classroom is the idea that today's youth love to watch things on the internet such as You Tube and so giving them the lesson online will increase engagement.  Another reason is that the students get help with their homework from a professional and not whomever may be at home.

I am willing to try anything that they say helps student achievement, but I have my doubts about completely flipping the whole year.  I tried it once a while ago and not one student said they preferred it over the traditional way.  They said they liked the interaction and the ability to ask questions during the lesson.

I went to a workshop once given by teachers in Byron that have been flipping their classroom and the data they gathered did not show any significant results on standardized tests and final exams.

I am wondering if maybe the flipped classroom is better than a traditional lecture format where the teacher talks the whole time and students do the homework completely at home but maybe it isn't better than the format where we go over homework from the night before, give the lesson using periodic formative assessments to check for understanding, and maybe do an activity or something else that different than a lecture.  I almost always give my class time to start the homework in class where i can help them.

Maybe I'll try a lesson or two using the flipped method next year and then survey the class or assess them to see how much it helped.  We'll see how far we get with the curriculum writing next week.

Helping Kids During Crisis

Following the tragedy in Orlando, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) posted crisis resources on their website in hopes of helping adults to better address the needs of students following a crisis.  The link below will bring you to the ASCA website where you will find webinars (free to watch I believe), links to support sites, and a helpful walk-through titled The Orlando Shootings: Parents' Guide to Talking to Children.  Even if we don’t have connections with Orlando, we are all left with questions and emotions that are hard to explain and our students are no different.

While some of the information on the ASCA website directly focuses on how to respond after the Orlando tragedy, the resources can apply beyond Orlando to crises that our community here in Rochester experiences.  I think back to the two situations we had at Willow Creek this past year and how that not only impacted the students at that school but some of our students here at Friedell.  Death, tragedy, and change are hard concepts for adolescent students to comprehend and cope with, even if the situation is removed from their personal life. At the same time, it can be hard for us as adults to know how to address student feelings that come with such unfortunate events.  The information listed here can help ease some of that difficulty and gives us some guidance on how to explain what seem like unexplainable acts and events.

http://schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/professional-development/2016-webinar-series/learn-more/helping-kids-during-crisis

Minnesota School Counselor Conference (MSCA) 2016

This past Spring, Duellman and I attended the annual Minnesota School Counselor Association Conference (MSCA).  This conference is held every year in Brainerd, MN and this year's theme was "Find your Inner Superhero".  The conference is a great chance for Heather and I to collaborate with fellow counselors and talk about common issues/trends that we are seeing within our schools.  Sessions at the conference vary in topic from career counseling to providing support for students struggling with mental health.  The conference is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about best practices being used across the state and to reaffirm our beliefs and passions as counselors.

 

Heather and I were able to attend the following break-out sessions at this year's conference:

 

Increasing Group Counseling Effectiveness - School and University Collaboration

Overcoming Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Schools

Anxious Youth: A Practitioner's Toolbox for Group Sessions

Gender Considerations

Counselor PLC's

Restorative Practices in K-12 Schools

 

Check-out our Google slides for a little more information on each of these sessions and some of our thoughts!  Let us know if you have any questions!



https://docs.google.com/a/isd535.org/presentation/d/1_GbR8CVtBfAUF3hajJtkS2SArv2w65iSm7o5VW21bv8/edit?usp=sharing
 

Team Launch

Team Launch

by Laura Willis

Getting a human on the moon took over 17,000 Kennedy space center employees, 500 space suit designers and countless others as described in Catherine Thimmesh's book, Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.

Getting a child to launch takes the same amount of preparation with a skilled team of collaborators purposefully designing and modifying the steps toward a successful lift-off. 

From the moment that child walks through the doors of the school, the team must go into full operational mode. Everyone has their job, their mission in a school. From the staff who hands a child a fruit snack to help them concentrate to the staff who works with a student on a math assignment. 

Improved learning does not happen by chance. Collaboration is crucial. We need to foster Friedell's community of learners by sharing best practices, using data to inform instruction, and reflecting on our practices. Impacting the trajectory of our students requires the adults to understand the strengths and weaknesses of our students and use different techniques to make lift-off a reality for all. 

In a healthy culture, failures are seen as the next opportunity for creativity and design to improve learning. By being innovative, productive, communicative, and reflective, we can change the course for our students' lives.

It is with this collaboration in mind that we start Friedell's school blog. "Alone we are smart, but together we are brilliant. We can use the collective wisdom to do great things when we are connected." - S. Anderson.

We need to tap into one another's strengths and knowledge to launch all students. Our ability to reach all students is limited only by ourselves. Are we challenging ourselves to learn and grow? What have you learned lately that might help a child reach his or her full potential? 

Let's hear about it, and then, let's put it into practice!