Chris+Champion

Chris Champion 3rd Grade Teacher

I was really excited about working on this committee. When we first met so many months ago, I definitely had an agenda going into it. I thought I knew what the goals were going to be and how we were going to achieve them. After our first meeting, I realized that I it wasn't as cut and dry as I thought. Jessica Field and I worked together to lay the ground work for the committees' mission. Our first committee meeting was a wonderful exchange of ideas, thoughts, and suggestions. Jessica and I then synthesized all of this to form a plan of attack. We decided to split the group into two smaller focus groups. The first would focus on professional development with regard to math/science. The second would focus on "best in class" curriculum with regard to math/science. Each member did research on their own and did their best to share it through conversation, email, or the wiki. After our last meeting with all of the SAIS committee chairs, Jessica and I realized that we needed to do more because we learned that there was to be a "recommendations' component that we were not aware of. So, we worked towards gathering the committee's information and looking to see what recommendations could be made (see final report). While this experience has been filled with some struggles (the final report was not that easy), it has been a rewarding one. I am truly excited with all of the research and information that our committee came up with. I am also happy with the recommendations we will be bringing up during the February inservice. I am especially thrilled about the idea of having a Math/Science consultant for the primary grades. I really think this would make a huge difference in creating a "best in class" atmosphere in the Lower School.

Research:
 * Internet searches for schools that use inquiry based methods
 * Survey of lower and middle school math/science teachers
 * Conversations with lower and middle school staff
 * Attendance at NSTA National Convention