STEM….It makes you think….

“When we are successful, students think they are playing”     Jaime Punjabi

Amid the craziness of teaching day in and day out, in between surmounting the piles of papers to grade, the RTI folders to keep updated, and let’s not forget the classroom behavior that must be managed, have you stopped and wondered, “There HAS got to be a better way”?

We have been feeling this way for a while, trying to master the different programs that are introduced each year as we revise school improvement plans and try our hardest to prove that we’re making a difference. Except we really aren’t. Not really. Students are managed and we very rarely encounter major behavior issues. But they haven’t been engaged. Where are the kids that we envisioned while in school? You know, the ones who hang on every word, the ones who eagerly await the next assignment and give it all they have because they are eager to show how much you have taught them?

STEM changes this. By changing our teaching, we are changing our classrooms. We want to share what has helped to change our view of education today. We want everyone to experience the hope of change that STEM offers. We are on a journey to share everything we have learned and are learning every day in the trenches of teaching. We can change the face of classrooms. Although it is titled STEM, for us, we don’t care what you call it officially, all we know is that integrating all subjects through inquiry-based instruction coupled with technology and engineering provides a classroom where students are engaged, interested, and are becoming independent thinkers and problem solvers!