Category Archives: Featured Session

Field Experiences: Helping Students Grow as Scientists

Posted on by

Kirstin Milks (WWTF ’09)

BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Kirstin Milks teaches and learns from her AP Biology and Earth/space science students at Bloomington High School South in Bloomington, Indiana, where she is entering her eleventh year of teaching. Kirstin holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University and a master’s from the Stanford Teacher Education Program, where she was a 2009 Leonore Annenberg Teaching Fellow. She is also a National Board-Certified Teacher and a Senior Fellow at the Knowles Teacher Initiative. Kirstin wants to help K-12 teachers share power and agency with their students to work towards justice.
SCHOOL PROFILE

  • Large school
  • Suburban/rural
  • Traditional Public school
  • Enrolled students: 1,700
  • Free/Reduced lunch eligible: 26%
  • Demographics: 80% White, 6% Multiracial, 5% Hispanic, 5% Asian 4% Black, ~<1% Other (American Indian & Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

SESSION ABSTRACT
How can we help young people apply their school-based STEM learning experiences to their own surroundings, personal experiences, communities, and futures? How can we share power and agency with our students, especially when we might not all be in the same room? Kirstin will model pieces of a year-long, standards-aligned assignment in which students investigated their local environment to build insight, connection, and resilience. Come ready to talk and think together in a justice-oriented and joyful context!

Presentation

Dealing With Expectations During a Global Crisis

Posted on by

Nathan Yaussy (WWTF ’13)

BIOGRAPHY
Nathan Yaussy is an alumnus of the 2013 Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowship at John Carroll University. He just completed his seventh year of teaching at Fairport Harding High School where he taught a variety of science courses, from 7th grade science to human anatomy and quite a few subjects in between. In November, he was awarded the Milken Education Award, which is only given to forty teachers throughout the nation each school year. In August, he will begin his first year teaching at KIPP Columbus High School.
SCHOOL PROFILE

  • Small School
  • Urban
  • Traditional public school
  • Enrolled students: 400
  • Free/Reduced lunch eligible: 40%
  • Demographics: 20% minority

SESSION ABSTRACT
This session is a conversation focusing on the expectations put on teachers and students and the ways that these expectations have (or have not) been managed in the transition to distance learning. Session participants will discuss the strategies and technology they have used to maintain connections with students and the difficulties (and successes) they have encountered along the way. The intention of the session is to have an open and honest discussion about these challenges with as much focus on describing the difficulties as celebrating the victories.

Presentation

Work/Life Balance While Quarantined

Posted on by

Brandon Washington (WWTF ’14)

BIOGRAPHY
Brandon Washington is a Technology Education Teacher at Hamilton High School West. He became a teacher after working for over 10 years in the Technology industry. Washington became a Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellow in 2014 and received his Master of Arts in Teaching from The College of New Jersey. He has taught Technology Education at the secondary education level for the past five years and recently began teaching as an adjunct professor at LaSalle University in the Integrated Science Business and Technology Department.
SCHOOL PROFILE

  • Large school
  • Urban
  • Traditional Public School
  • Enrolled students: 1,243
  • Free/Reduced Price Lunch Eligible: 43%
  • Demographics: 3% Asian, 20% Black, 37% Hispanic, 38% White, 2% other

SESSION ABSTRACT
Join Brandon Washington as he shares his journey through quarantine. The session, Work/Life Balance while Quarantined, is a success story pertaining to ways in which one can manage remote teaching during a pandemic. Brandon will share a problem-solving approach to meeting professional expectations and a strategy for persevering during these difficult times. The session will provide various resources, a strategy for accomplishing day-to-day tasks, and an approach to finding peace at home.

Presentation

Inquiry Science Teaching and Learning from a Distance

Posted on by

Matt Oney (WWTF ’12)

BIOGRAPHY
Matt Oney is the director of the Escanaba Student Success Center, an alternative school in Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula. Prior to his role as director, Matt was a science teacher and 2012 Woodrow Wilson Michigan Teaching Fellow. He spent his years teaching, developing, and implementing inquiry-based curricula centered in modeling instruction. He was a governor appointee to Michigan’s 21st Century Education Commission, which was charged with developing plans to improve Michigan’s entire education system. Matt has been successful in raising funds for his classroom that have allowed him to explore the integration of various types of technologies in his classroom instruction. Many of these technologies have been instrumental in his transition to online instruction.
SCHOOL PROFILE

  • Small school
  • Rural
  • Alternative and traditional public school
  • Enrolled students: 70 at alternative school; 700 at traditional school
  • Free/Reduced lunch Eligible: 35%
  • Demographics: 95% White

SESSION ABSTRACT
Next Generation Science Standards, 3-dimensional teaching, and inquiry-based learning have revolutionized science instruction. However, this method of science instruction is difficult and requires large amounts of planning and practice when face-to-face. With our current modality of teaching online, inquiry-based teaching and learning becomes even more difficult. In this session, Matt will share his experience in developing, implementing, and facilitating inquiry driven lessons from a distance. In addition, Matt will highlight many of the technologies that have eased the transition to online teaching.

Presentation

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream!!! Standardizing and refining your processes for success with distance learning

Posted on by

Daron Martin (WWTF ’15)

BIOGRAPHY
Daron Martin, is an educator in Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) teaching Chemistry and Astronomy at Lanier High School. Martin is a part of the oldest and most established STEM academy in the district, the Center for Design and Technology (CDAT). CDAT focuses on interdisciplinary project-based learning (PBL) across four core subjects, engineering, and digital technology. Daron Martin has been leading the 9th grade program for four years. Daron has a passion for increasing students’ science literacy, critical thinking, and 21st century transferrable skills for success in their post-secondary endeavors.
SCHOOL PROFILE

  • Medium-sized school
  • Suburban
  • Traditional Public School
  • Enrolled students: 400 in the academy; 1,900 in the school
  • Free/Reduced lunch eligible: 34.6%
  • Demographics: African American 19.5%; Asian 6%; Latinx 26%; Other 5.2% White 43.3%

SESSION ABSTRACT
Did you spend the spring coming up with robust lessons only to be forced to troubleshoot user errors? Did you feel there was an extreme disconnect between you, your students, and colleagues? Were you looking for ways to leverage your interdisciplinary work for student success? In this session, Daron will provide: tips for reducing user error and confusion when completing assignments; methods and programs to make work accessible for most students; and ways to employ teacher teams for student success.

Presentation