ST(EM)POWERED

This is a question I get A LOT. Sometimes from parents of younger siblings who are on the fence about attending, sometimes from people who have never heard of us, and even sometimes at Starbuck's when I'm wearing a STEM shirt before work. I have too many answers to share them all when I am asked, but I will try to share them here. 1. The number of people who tour our school and say the following: "I wish I had an option like this when I was in school." On the surface this sounds like just a nice compliment, but in reality it says something about the depth of people's disillusionment with more traditional educational models, that have not changed in decades or longer. Research tells us again and again what students needs, but many schools are unwilling to change longstanding practices in instruction, grading, and so on. If you want to attend, or would like your student to attend, a school that believes in changing the paradigm of education, send them to STEM. ...

The answer is simple: be deliberate. We can't teach every skill, in every content, in every lesson, every single time. But, we can plan ahead to ensure that we are providing instruction, formative assessments, and feedback on those skills in our day to day interactions with students. Collaboration is a great example, since many schools highlight this particular skill as crucial. Oftentimes though the emphasis is simply on allowing students to do group work. How does that look different in 9th grade vs. 12th grade? Is there a progression of how students demonstrate their ability to work in a group? Or to resolve conflict? Or to hold themselves and each other accountable? Just putting them in groups, or letting them choose their own, is not an effective instructional strategy and it doesn't provide feedback or allow for self-reflection. In short, it doesn't explicitly teach collaboration, nor does it provide growth opportunities over time. So we have 2 challenges: 1. ...