Ms. Schuler Science Teacher

If you give a kid a STEM challenge....      Kids are bound to ask a question! If a kid asks a question, a kid is likely to look for a solution. But if a kid  wants to find a solution, first he or she will need to do some research. If a kid does some research, there's bound to be MORE questions!          If you give a kid a STEM Challenge, they want to find a solution. If you give a kid a STEM Challenge...       You ENGAGE critical thinking skills.        You engage every kid.        You ignite creativity! If you give a kid a STEM Challenge they will find others to COLLABORATE with! If You give a kid a STEM Challenge.... They will design it and EXPLORE possibilities. When a kid can  build it they EXPLAIN why something works!...

  Traditionally, Unit 1 in 8th grade science is boring. Intuitively students understand genetics and reproduction but application of the ideas into science class is very difficult.   Why are "mom and dad" now parents? What the heck is offspring? Just the vocabulary alone is enough to send students to bed crying at night.   I was tasked at making these crazy allele things concrete How about those chromosomes? I can't see them, but they are important. I need to make this relevant.                             So You give a kid a STEM challenge . Problem: Design a toy that would teach genetics for the STEM Toy Company Constraints: A male and female parent model - with 4 distinguished traits 1 offspring It had to fit in a shoe box Illustrations of 3 additional offspring possibilities Use of pungent square t...

A fun look into what kids are doing in my classroom! Check it out! STEM Works!

COMING SOON... these are topics that I am working on!  Not enough hours in the day to address them all! As a full time Science Teacher, Full time PhD student, Full Time Single Mother and grandmother, my head is full of writing streams - sadly I cannot blog in the shower, or I could manage to get all of my streaming consciousness on paper. Eventually I hope to be able to learn how to dictate to my phone and speed up the process.  Until then I am keeping a list of  topics running here - if there is some topic that readers would like me to do over another, let me know. It will help me to prioritize my ramblings. "What came first the relationship or the expectation?" as inspired by Kim Campbell who I recently saw at the AMLE conference in Philadelphia. "STEM and ELLs: Building CALP for Emergent Bilingual (Why every teacher is a language teacher) "Peas and Carrots: Why NGSS and Common Core work together in every content" - Using STEM pedagogy across conten...

21st Century Three “R’s”: Rules, Roles and Responsibilities By Michele Schuler     In 46 years, one could conclude that attitudes, frustrations and challenges have not improved since Anne Stein posed the question, “How does it come about that the one institution that is said to be the gateway of opportunity, the school, is the very one that is most effective in perpetuating an oppressed and impoverished status in society?” (Nieto p.119) Historically, the United States, produces innovators, is the home of great critical thinkers and America put men on the moon.  During the rise The Great Society, one can trace the decline of schools and the rise of “...the ‘banking system’ of education.” (Freire, p.58) Education lost its way, roles, rules and responsibilities became vague and confusing, a paradigm shift occurred. Both Nieto and Freire, suggest that the school system without change will continue to produce a marginalized student body, that is unable to contr...

"Make good choices. Be a good friend. Learn stuff."                   - yours truly I've been saying this every morning for as long as I can remember when I dropped my kids off at school in the carpool line. Every day, for years, the roll of the eyes. The "I know, mom" as they practically jumped out of the car to avoid the embarrassment of being seen with me during the award middle school and high school days. My youngest is 16, and is entering her Jr./Sr. Year. If she stays the course, she will graduate one year before her peers. The youngest intends to spend a gap year to see if she can make it on the A Circuit. That's equestrian for travel and expensive for riding horses. My oldest daughter, 20, who wasn't a fan of school is a young single mother, but she is doing it with grace, while pursuing her college degree and working full time as a cosmetologist. Bringing up the ranks, is my granddau...

"We only think when we are confronted with problems." Sometimes when I am in my classroom - I have to ask myself - What would Dewey do? John Dewey is an education legend. His constructivist approach to education included a hands-on, real life application problem solving instructional technique that would lead to a stronger more democratic student capable of being part of society. Dewey would argue that the purpose of education was to develop students who could work collaboratively with peers, thus becoming better citizens in the democratic process. Dewey believed that students would be better prepared for the world that they lived in, if they could approach real world problems to solve, and to apply reseach and learning to the problem. Relevant learning process' prepare students for life. Dewey did not see students as empty vessles to be filled but rather active members of the community and able to be full participants in their learning process. Dewy opened th...

Teacher For The Day Created by M. Schuler 2016 orcid.org/0000-0002-5659-0164 Following is a STEM based lesson - with a performance task NGSS Standards: Students who demonstrate understanding can: MS-ESS1-1. Develop and use a model   of the Earth-sun-moon system   to describe   the cyclic patterns of   lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.    [Clarification Statement: Examples of models can be physical, graphical, or conceptual.] MS-ESS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe   the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the   solar system.  [Clarification Statement: Emphasis for the model is on gravity as the force that holds together the solar system and Milky Way galaxy and controls orbital motions within them. Examples of models can be physical (such as the analogy of distance along a football field or computer visualizations of elliptical orbits) or conceptual (such ...

Notre Dame of Maryland University School of Education EDU 622 Education and Policy Analysis for Changing Schools Name: Michele Schuler Evolution of a Policy Date of Submission 5/1/17 ORCID ID#0000-0002-5659-0164 Honor Code: I hereby affirm that I have neither given nor received any help on this assignment. Electronic Signature  Michele Schuler Smart Policy for Smartphones:Social Media in Schools by Michele Schuler, MA Social Media is a phenomena of the 21st century,that has policy makers and school boards across the country in reactionary mode, as social media evolves. Oxford Dictionary provides this definition for social media, “noun. Websites and software programs used for social networking, ... Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are changing the way people communicate, work, and shop.” In the late 1990’s, the technology of the cell phone, began to evolve and after the attacks of New York on 9-11-01, the demand for c...