Eleanor Coffelt
Lower School Science Teacher
The school is quiet and cold in the summer, but we’re all getting fired up as we sit in the computer lab with the third grade team and talk about ideas for our ITL (Institute on Teaching and Learning) project. Together, Randy Bowman, Karen Dauer, Andrew Brennan and I are taking advantage of ITL, which is an opportunity for teachers to get together in teams to spend focused and dedicated time on school work. ITL time could be spent a number of different ways – developing a new curriculum unit, learning a new teaching method or technology use or making changes to a program.
This year, the third grade teachers and I worked together to improve the classroom social studies and the science lab units. We clarified the major lessons that we want the students to take away at the end of the year and asked whether our current teaching was working to this end. The principles of ecology and interdependence are among the themes for the third grade year. With the changes that we have made to the curriculum, the students will study 3 of the 7 bay area ecosystems. For variety, relevance and interest we chose redwoods, chaparral and salt marshes. In the beginning of the year, the third graders will learn some of the basic principles of ecology during the popular ‘Guppy’ project, in which they make a habitat for a tiny fish. These principles will then extend throughout the year forming a framework for each of the 3 bay area habitat studies, with the teachers involved using the same vocabulary and explicitly making connections.
Together in our ITL work we also created a new unit on birds. All of us are very excited to teach this new unit incorporating hands-on experiments, outdoor bird watching, and an owl pellet dissection. Randy is especially ready with a bird song app on his phone! While Andrew brought many ideas to our summer work with his usual energy and love for teaching, Randy, Karen and I got into long conversations about our expectations and guidelines for the students writing. We discussed how our expectations build over the year and how each child should be successful at the level they are at, and prepared to excel at the next stage. In keeping with our training in differentiation, we built in tasks that accommodate different skill levels, choice of subject and different learning styles.
This summer I also worked with Tristan Sturm and Cathy Aragon on the second grade social studies and science curriculum. It was wonderful to have some time to get to know Cathy before the pressures of the new school year are upon us. Cathy comes from Flynn and has tried different ways of teaching about San Francisco in her classroom. I enjoy talking to teachers from other schools about their experiences. Tristan and Cathy have an essential question that drives their social studies curriculum: ‘How does a city tell us about its history?’ This question is posted in their room and students strive to answer through their studies. We worked to bring some of the science units in line with this central question and the science lab classes will help shed light on the answers. A couple of examples include a unit on San Francisco transportation and a scientific study on the foods that immigrant populations brought to San Francisco. If you are wondering what this might look like, the lessons range from growing corn and making pasta to building model cable cars. All my lessons strive to teach the students how scientists work and make contributions to society while encouraging each child to practice making observations. It is important to me that the children continue to be full of curiosity as they are in Kindergarten and that they understand that science can empower them to answer life’s puzzling questions.
ITL is an amazing opportunity to partner with colleagues to take on new challenges and improve how and what we teach. During the quiet months of summer it is possible to have these extensive yet focused conversations that are difficult once school is in session. What is accomplished is a deep, shared understanding of our common goals and time to plan carefully and thoughtfully.
