November 2016 Newsletter
Giving Thanks
During this month of Thanksgiving, we have been reflecting on the things we are most grateful for. The STEM Institute would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to many people.  Primary among them is the talented group of teachers we have the privilege of working with, both past and present. Jim Effinger worded it best this summer when he said, "We learn from you and your classroom experiences that you share with us." We appreciate your taking time out of your busy lives to further your professional education. We thank our partner institutions, who provide valuable resources and additional educational opportunitites to our participants. We thank the STEM Institute faculty, for without your dedication, creativity, and high standards, we would not be the thriving program we are today. We are grateful for the generosity of our funders, including John Canning, Polk Bros Foundation and Lloyd A. Fry Foundation. And we thank our suppotive board and leadership team. On behalf of the STEM Institute, thank you for your support and commitment to our program.

Create a Next Generation Clasroom
What does structuring a curriculum under Next Generation Science Standards involve?
Building a curriculum that aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards from scratch can be challenging. That's why KnowAtom provides full curricula for multiple grades, scaffolding the material from September to June and from year to year. 


Resources

Want to encourage more student conversations about science? Read "How Can I Get My Students to Learn Science by Productively Talking with Each Other?" Read the full article.

Have you ever said the following,   "It's difficult to teach science, because at the end of the day, students don't want me telling them one more thing."

Read this post by Francis Vigeant where he describes why educators need to understand what it means to have full inquiry and to release responsibility to their students. He writes about how educators need to challenge students to develop and use their content knowledge and skills in order to solve a problem or answer a question. Click here to read Teaching with the Next Generation Science Standards. 

REWARDING EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING & LEADERSHIP 

This year, Golden Apple is honoring 4th-8th grade teachers with the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching and Pre-K through 12th grade principals or heads of school with the Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award.

Click here to nominate! 

Evidence Statements
NGSS Evidence Statements provide educators with additional detail on what students should know and be able to do. These are statements of observable and measurable components that, if met, will satisfy NGSS performance expectations.The evidence statements provide detail on how students will use the practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas together in their demonstration of proficiency on the PEs by the end of instruction. 

To download evidence statements by grade level and Performance Expectation, Click here.
  
Please make sure to schedule your classroom visits, please contact:

Penny Lundquist               Mary Bianchi Chlada               Steven Walsh               Wayne Wittenberg


Golden Apple STEM Institute is currently recruiting partner schools for the 2017 cohort. Please pass this information along to colleagues or contact us for details on how to participate.
  

Brentano Promotes Collaboration
Emily Bartlett, 5th and 6th grade teacher at Brentano School, created a lesson plan using backward design, incorporating the NGSS and Common Core Standards. The unit is titled,  Plate Tectonics, and she would like to share it with you. According to Emily, the unit follows the inquiry format:  2 weeks immersion, 2 weeks inquiry/coalesce, and 1 week going public."       Click here to see this unit.

2016 Plant the Seed

As we reflect on 2016 and look ahead to 2017 we are excited about the continued growth of the Golden Apple Foundation and the STEM Institute in particular. Our success is only made possible by the efforts and engagement of our volunteers and participants. Together we are all planting a seed to improve teachers and teaching in Illinois. If you would also like to support our work financially, you can visit www.goldenapple.org/donate-today. Thank you for your consideration and for your ongoing support of our mission.

Golden Apple 8 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60603 312-407-0006   www.goldenapple.org