THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

Personal Reflection 
My missional goal is to improve students learning of both content and skills relative their passion and interest through STEM curriculum in order to be knowledgeable member of the society who can make sound decision.. A year of experience with this project is just a starting point. I am looking forward that I will  improve each year. I was so naive to think, that STEM is just like another discipline with established curriculum for every grade level. As the fellowship goes on, it provided me with clarity how to integrated science, technology, engineering and math into the existing subject area that I am teaching. Our school had stepped further by transforming our school into a STEM from traditional math and science department by integrating sciences ( biology, chemistry, and physics ), integrated math ( core plus 3), problem-based learning, standard-based grading, and the most current personalized learning.  I felt very fortunate to be part of Winpro Urbanstem fellowship because the new ideas and that I had been learning throughout the year will be very applicable for years to come with its transformation to achieve both missional and instrumental goals to improve teaching and learning process.

Change is part of our lives in our thriving society. Be flexible and agile; and be a problem solve are the two Be’s of Brooks that I always keep in mind to keep up with the changing environment that I am in. With my world of wonder about technology!  Technology can be weaved into planning, delivery, and assessment of instructions for both students and teachers. The quest for STEM Curriculum: STEM I, STEM II, STEM III, and STEM IV for science, Core Plus I, II, III, IV, for mathematics  and technology are disciplines in placed for next year and working on it.

There are professional and personal ideas come with the responsibility to teach STEM III next year and Core Plus 3 Integrated Math in my case with two of my colleagues. Currently, we are designing how a Ubd would look like with BSCS Science Levels 1,2,3 and Core Plus 3 at hands. Personally, my preference is to provide an option for the student to choose  STEM I, II, III in their freshman through junior year and senior year an option to specialize courses like AP chemistry, AP Physics, AP Environmental or AP Biology or take the tradition course sequence of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Environmental Science. Integrating Problem based learning project as the a term project and culminating in semester basis. All though my personal idea was not considered, I kept very positive and even realizing my own bias with this idea because this is what I am familiar with. So with a shifting focus of energy into researching on what junior high school  needs to learn and be able to do through application STEM in their lives. In order to do that, I must know what freshman and sophomores learned in terms of math and science, although we were reminded all the time, keep away from topics to cover but  focus on developmental skill for specific age level and consider student’s interest and passion heading to personalize learning. In teaching we always want to tap into student’s prior knowledge as our starting point.

In designing curriculum where do we start? If we do not want the topics or naming of subjects where to begin? I am thankful to hashtag # for now I can just # stem, # personalize learning, # standardized learning to see all the links; Currently, the weebly is helping me in hosting all my professional work however, I would be trying other resources, blendspace has more feature that integrate flip, problem based, and assessment. I am spending a lot of time reading personalized learning on my own time because I anticipate that t will be weave into STEM program for the next five years. The diversity measure of my network, my colleagues have very different background, outspoken, young but we share common trait, we are all passionate and committed to the development of the STEM program. Most of the teacher in my department were mostly new, so they have the most current information of today’s education in terms of teaching strategies and resources. So we have the merging of the old and new that seems to work. My online network consist of clicking youtube MIT and other ivy league university instructor’s video on science and math as part of my favorite online activity, I am very curious how they teach and I reflect on how I teach in the classroom. I watch a lot of Ted Talks from motivation, inspiration, architecture, curriculum or education.
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What I feel courageous enough to and on the past? I am convincing myself, my 13 years of teaching experience teaching physics and chemistry as a course, is phasing out into integrated science and integrated mathematics that weave the engineering and technology with it. I think, the challenge of developing something new and be able to teach which _This I believe… STEM is our present--and how well we integrate multiple disciplines in our educational system--can widen the bridge into a humane and literate society now and into the future.

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