I’m not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I used to live in Florida. I moved there shortly after finishing college when there were lots of teaching jobs available. My family had a condo near Tampa and that is where I settled in. I taught there for 10 years in Hillsborough County. When I saw an article show up on my alerts about Tampa schools I had to click on it. That article was titled; Tampa’s Just Elementary rebrands itself as a STEM academy. Florida gives their schools a “grade” and this school was given an F. This means the school was very high needs and many of the surrounding families choiced out of Just to go to another school with a higher rating. Many of these students were English Learners. Charlie Dittmar, an outreach instructor from the Museum of Science and Industry, wanted to change that.
“So he began what he called a “reverse marketing campaign” to bring students — and their parents —back to the school by advertising the rebranded Riverwalk STEM Academy @ Just Elementary.”
One way they are doing this is to incorporate more technology into their schools including STEM initiatives — science, technology, engineering and math — from coding mice to robotics. STEM learning is principal to many new technologies and jobs in the workplace, it is especially important that schools learn how to connect students with this material earlier, and in a more meaningful way. They introduced many changes including coding mice, lego EV3 robots, 3D printers, 106 new desktops, 30 new laptops, new furniture and painting the outside of the school. The school also offers engineering and robotics clubs that meet after school. The inclusion of hands-on activities will result in the higher success of all students, including ELs. These technology changes have helped Just move their school grade up from an F to a B.
One of the teachers, Desiree Whitter, said it best “It’s not that they can’t learn, but that they haven’t been exposed to a lot of things. And now they’re being exposed.”
Check out the original post here.
Wow! It is so great to hear a success story of an entire school taking their future in their own hands. They owned up to knowing that they were not a great school and made the necessary and uplifting changes that brought back the students and made learning fun again.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the best learning style is hands on learning! That is one of the reasons why I love teaching music so much! Everything is hands on! STEM is great, but I prefer STEAM! (Just gotta have the Arts included). It makes a difference when the students can see what they are learning fits into every day life. Showing them the value of the subject matter really makes the students feel responsible for their education.
Another positive is that the students see how much the teachers and administrators care about the students. They revamped everything to make the standards of the school rise. This shows that the employees were not satisfied with where they were and wants the best for them and their students!
Glad to hear of a school that is able to expose their students to hands on learning with technology upgrades and additions. I specifically like that they included after school clubs, both the engineering and robotics clubs, as motivation to use the new technology is critical for implementation. Thanks for sharing some good in the middle of an uncertain time for education.
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