My amazing middle school students form a diverse community of Hispanic, Caucasian, Native American and Asian students who are determined to "beat the odds" to reach their educational goals and prepare for their future. Many of my students have little access to technology outside of school, and don't see how what we are learning in math and science relates to our lives. Regardless, we strive to instill in each student, especially those in our at risk population, a joy of life-long learning, technological literacy, and leadership skills that will prepare them for careers or college.
My creative students thrive on hands-on opportunities to design, build, and experiment to make concepts more understandable.
For the 40+ students I teach, math anxiety can be a real concern. Helping them see how higher math skills can be used in the real world is vital for keeping them interested and motivated. With 3/4 of our student population on reduced or free lunches, the idea of pursuing STEM careers can be daunting but I know these creative students thrive with interactive, hands-on learning activities that bring science, technology, engineering and math concepts to life!
My Project
Imagine you have just built a robot...now you are excited to see it move! But wait! First, you have to wait in line for one of the two classroom computers in order to program your robot.
"Captain, I can't hold her, I'm goin' to lose her!" With apologies to Captain Kirk and Scotty, his beloved engineer, this is how I feel when I see my students waiting for a chance to program their robots.
The sense of accomplishment our budding engineers feel plummets if they are unable to take the next step -- program the robot to make it move. These 3 new computers will allow more students to keep their robots rolling along. Voila! Our builders are transformed into computer programmers using their math and science skills. At last, middle school math and science comes to life through their robots! More importantly, our students start to see themselves as capable scientists and engineers, ready to tackle the next challenge.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Consterdine and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
