Teaching is my calling. It’s a way of existing, a lifestyle, an innate drive. It’s a way of seeing the world through pedagogical glasses — finding a lesson in everything and finding a way to bring it back to the classroom.
During my day I encounter at least 150 middle school students who are excited to be sitting in my classroom, eager to learn, create, and share their knowledge with not just their classmates, but the entire world! When I’m done teaching my six classes, I get to hang out with people who beam with unbridled enthusiasm about what they just taught that day, or what they plan on teaching in an upcoming unit.
I am a teacher at the STEM Academy and this is where I get to play every day.
STEM? What is it exactly? Everyone I encounter has a different idea of what STEM education is, and usually it stops with the acronym. STEM education isn’t about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but to quote our principal Peter Ulrich, “it’s about how we get to access the world.”
Not every subject can have its acronym in the word STEM, but in STEM education no one subject is more important than the other. STEM stresses the importance of a transdisciplinary approach to teaching. It focuses on student collaboration and communication to solve real world and simulated problems, with the expectation that we are preparing students for careers that are STEM-focused, such as engineers, bio technicians and chemists.
At the heart of STEM we are preparing our students to think critically–because we know the world is in need of critical thinkers.
So now you, Savannah, may be asking “Why is Amanda writing this blog? Why should I care about STEM education?”
Why? Because the future needs you. We need you, Savannah. Small businesses, big businesses, manufacturing plants, college students, grad students, creative thinkers, startups. We need all of you. Our story is your story…the story of the future: Our students will be entering the community work place within the next decade, which isn’t too far away.
The old saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child,” but when it comes to education it is left solely to the teachers. I would be doing a disservice to my students if I thought I was enough. I would be doing a disservice to my students if I let the buck stop with me, if their projects never left my classroom, if I allowed my walls to remain opaque.
While students enjoy my film class, Mr. Routh’s Maker Space, Mrs. Mooney’s GIS class (the list goes on and on!), our job is not to save their work, which is sophisticated and beyond their years, for our eyes only, but to give them a global audience to share their ideas. If not a global audience, a community one at the very least!
We’re creating this platform for sharing student ideas in two ways: inviting professionals into our school building as a community learning space, and extending the classroom to the community through business partnerships and community showcases. Our simulated environments in the classroom help embed relevance, but being immersed in an authentic atmosphere solving actual real world problems side-by-side with professionals has no substitute.
The STEM Academy specifically is looking for help with our first ever STEM Film Festival. The film festival isn’t a traditional film festival showcasing aesthetics in film, but instead features STEM content-driven student projects in a video platform. STEM is communicating problems and solutions with a global audience and in our ever changing world, the power and abundance of video has become apparent. The festival was created with the vision of developing 21st century communication skills within our students while also creating an opportunity for businesses to become involved.
Creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and my personal fifth added “C”, Community, are all important pillars of STEM education and the film festival embodies all these pillars.
I recently attended Geekend as a teacher on a mission: I was looking to capture a spark of innovation to share with my students in the classroom, and admittedly, I was also there to spread the word of our STEM Film Festival. The overwhelming positive response to our film festival concept has corroborated my instinct that I am on to something…
If you are reading this, you have something to offer. You have an expertise, a story, a resource that you can share with us. And when I say us, I don’t just mean The STEM Academy or our STEM Film Festival. There are several other STEM programs within in our school district which could use your help: May Howard Elementary has a STEM program and Heard Elementary has a STEAM program (A for Arts).
Make a difference. Get involved. Our schools, and your future, can benefit from local partnerships now. You can start small by simply attending the first annual STEM Film Festival in May, or better yet, jump in with both feet and help make the festival happen. Visit www.stemfilmfestival.com for details on how you can help.
Amanda
During my day I encounter at least 150 middle school students who are excited to be sitting in my classroom, eager to learn, create, and share their knowledge with not just their classmates, but the entire world! When I’m done teaching my six classes, I get to hang out with people who beam with unbridled enthusiasm about what they just taught that day, or what they plan on teaching in an upcoming unit.
I am a teacher at the STEM Academy and this is where I get to play every day.
STEM? What is it exactly? Everyone I encounter has a different idea of what STEM education is, and usually it stops with the acronym. STEM education isn’t about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but to quote our principal Peter Ulrich, “it’s about how we get to access the world.”
Not every subject can have its acronym in the word STEM, but in STEM education no one subject is more important than the other. STEM stresses the importance of a transdisciplinary approach to teaching. It focuses on student collaboration and communication to solve real world and simulated problems, with the expectation that we are preparing students for careers that are STEM-focused, such as engineers, bio technicians and chemists.
At the heart of STEM we are preparing our students to think critically–because we know the world is in need of critical thinkers.
So now you, Savannah, may be asking “Why is Amanda writing this blog? Why should I care about STEM education?”
Why? Because the future needs you. We need you, Savannah. Small businesses, big businesses, manufacturing plants, college students, grad students, creative thinkers, startups. We need all of you. Our story is your story…the story of the future: Our students will be entering the community work place within the next decade, which isn’t too far away.
The old saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child,” but when it comes to education it is left solely to the teachers. I would be doing a disservice to my students if I thought I was enough. I would be doing a disservice to my students if I let the buck stop with me, if their projects never left my classroom, if I allowed my walls to remain opaque.
While students enjoy my film class, Mr. Routh’s Maker Space, Mrs. Mooney’s GIS class (the list goes on and on!), our job is not to save their work, which is sophisticated and beyond their years, for our eyes only, but to give them a global audience to share their ideas. If not a global audience, a community one at the very least!
We’re creating this platform for sharing student ideas in two ways: inviting professionals into our school building as a community learning space, and extending the classroom to the community through business partnerships and community showcases. Our simulated environments in the classroom help embed relevance, but being immersed in an authentic atmosphere solving actual real world problems side-by-side with professionals has no substitute.
The STEM Academy specifically is looking for help with our first ever STEM Film Festival. The film festival isn’t a traditional film festival showcasing aesthetics in film, but instead features STEM content-driven student projects in a video platform. STEM is communicating problems and solutions with a global audience and in our ever changing world, the power and abundance of video has become apparent. The festival was created with the vision of developing 21st century communication skills within our students while also creating an opportunity for businesses to become involved.
Creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and my personal fifth added “C”, Community, are all important pillars of STEM education and the film festival embodies all these pillars.
I recently attended Geekend as a teacher on a mission: I was looking to capture a spark of innovation to share with my students in the classroom, and admittedly, I was also there to spread the word of our STEM Film Festival. The overwhelming positive response to our film festival concept has corroborated my instinct that I am on to something…
- Erik Reagan of Focus Lab, a small organic branding company in Savannah, reached out to me shortly after Geekend and offered to be the gold sponsor for our festival. Focus Lab prides itself in people over profits. They reinvest their profits in people, people like our students.
- Jason Premo, a Geekend speaker and venture capitalist with Premo Ventures, has offered to provide scholarships to our student winners.
- Harry DeLorme, senior curator of education with the Telfair Museums and Geekend fan, has offered us a venue.
- A New York ad company, We Are The United, was so inspired by our film festival’s mission statement that they gifted us our awesome logo.
If you are reading this, you have something to offer. You have an expertise, a story, a resource that you can share with us. And when I say us, I don’t just mean The STEM Academy or our STEM Film Festival. There are several other STEM programs within in our school district which could use your help: May Howard Elementary has a STEM program and Heard Elementary has a STEAM program (A for Arts).
Make a difference. Get involved. Our schools, and your future, can benefit from local partnerships now. You can start small by simply attending the first annual STEM Film Festival in May, or better yet, jump in with both feet and help make the festival happen. Visit www.stemfilmfestival.com for details on how you can help.
Amanda