Entry #15 - Dec. 14, 1998
"We made a commitment to focus on the logs and other aspects
of technical writing this time around. We fell very short of our goal. Most
projects still don't have log books and few show real evidence of the student's
ongoing thinking and working on their problem."
Most of the winning science boards are set up in the auditorium and our
outside judges arrive on Monday at 8:15. It has been a very stressful week
with teachers and students blowing off deadlines left and right. I was pretty
annoyed yesterday afternoon because the folks who were the biggest offenders
were the ones who called for the earlier deadlines this year! It was the
old salt-in-the-wound type of situation. However, a friend pointed out that
if the deadline were in June, some folks would still be late and after sleeping
on it, I've decided he's probably right. The issues of teaching and learning
vis-a-vis science fair are a lot more important in the long run.
The boards are impressive in many cases and alarming in others. Monday should
be interesting. It's always exciting to round up the students and send them
in for their interviews. Most rise to the occasion and take the process
very seriously. They stand proudly by their work, extend their hands in
introduction and answer the judges' questions thoughtfully.
We haven't had any casualities yet. The first time I judged at the citywide
fair a boy took one look at me and lost his breakfast! I felt badly for
him, and I'm sure neither of us will ever forget the experience.
I see the presentations as especially important for our kids because many
of them are not accustomed to speaking to unfamiliar adults about anything.
It is a real stretch for them to outline their thinking about a problem
and defend their reasoning and experience. The presence of the outside judges
authenticates the importance of the work and they respond accordingly. [See
judges' rubric here.]
This year we adjusted our written requirements. We decided to drop the research
paper in grades 5 and 6, but left the bibliography and log book in place.
Last year we were alarmed that so few students completed log books and that
those that were submitted reflected a poor understanding of their purpose.
We made a commitment to focus on the logs and other aspects of technical
writing this time around. We fell very short of our goal. Most projects
still don't have log books and few show real evidence of the student's ongoing
thinking and working on their problem.
Now I'm wondering if we, the teachers, really understand the value of the
writing. We seem to think it's important in Sept. when we do our overall
plan, but come Nov. or Dec. and our plans have gone by the wayside. Is this
breakdown a function of time constraints and the enormous task? Lots of
our kids have real problems writing a good sentence. Could it be a reflection
of our own inexperience with writing and reflection? Or is it a combination
of factors?
I've already approached our reading specialist and the folks from Johns
Hopkins about setting up staff development about technical writing. I don't
think we can solve this problem by just promising to do better next time.
Our good intentions aren't getting us very far and just feeling guilty is
counterproductive.
I also think we need to make "writing across the curriculum" more
than a hollow catch-phrase. Our new standardized test, the Stanford 9, expects
the students to be able to write in each area and, not surprisingly, our
kids aren't doing well. They've grown accustomed to multiple choice tests
and are generally not expected to defend a point of view on any subject,
except maybe a novel or some other piece of literature. My kids are often
annoyed when I try to insist that they must have an opinion about science
questions. They've grown accustomed to being told what to think, even if
they reject a lot of it. Lots of teachers are caught in the same mindset.
I cringe each time I hear things like, "just tell me what to teach"
or "where's the kit?".
I've started to develop the questions for the student evaluation of their
science fair experience and I'm giving a grade for it so they'll take it
a bit more seriously, but I must confess that I'm really struggling to craft
the questions so that they elicit meaningful answers. I'll spend most of
the weekend thinking about this, as my classes will fill out the evaluations
on Monday while I'm in the main building coordinating the fair. I'll share
some of the questions and responses next week.
On a different note, our staff seems to be heading for a battle over student
eligibility for extra-curricular activities. I hope we really flesh it out
and don't just make-nice and ignore it. There are a lot of issues that relate
directly to our teching and learning philosophies simmering just below the
surface.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Deborah has been writing about science fair issues for several
weeks. You can review her earlier entries by clicking on the "last
week's entry" link at the bottom of each page.]
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