Charter School Newsletter April 2015 |
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Science camp runs on girl powerWhile her peers slept in during school vacation week, 16-year-old Diana Perez of Everett woke up at 4 AM. for an epic commute that began in darkness at a snow-covered bus stop, continued with a transfer to another bus, and ended with a car ride from a friend to arrive in Lexington at 8:30 AM. Her destination: a science camp at Minuteman Career and Technical High School. “I didn’t want to miss it,” Perez said. “So I had to get here.” It was an uncommon display of determination, but the four-day camp is unlike anything else offered to teenage girls interested in science and math. The campers are middle school girls mentored by high school students like Perez, who encourage them to stick to their studies of so-called STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and math.
At Minuteman, a school of about 650 students, only about 15 percent of females, or fewer than 30 girls a year, graduate with an emphasis in STEM. Minuteman’s superintendent, Ed Bouquillon, has declared 2015 the year of “girls in STEM” and asked staffers and students to create a camp that will encourage more girls to pursue the fields. In technology alone, the Department of Labor predicts 1.4 million jobs will be created in computing fields by 2020. But U.S. citizens are expected to fill only about 30 percent of them, and American women are expected to fill just 3 percent. “We needed to do something,” Bouquillon said. “We’re not going to fill all the jobs that are out there for young people in STEM fields without tapping into young women and getting them interested in it. The vacation-week camp was the brainchild of about 20 Minuteman female students, including Perez, and their adviser, engineering teacher Becky Quay. About 30 middle school students arrived by bus each morning this week to undertake math projects and science experiments and to take apart computers under the tutelage of high school girls. Middle school girls studying math for the day, for example, used graphs and pie charts to tell a story. Some simply told what a student ate that day, while others added imagination to chart the fluctuations in unicorn herd populations. The group also made tie-dyed shirts to study geometric theory and played games with dice to explore probabilities. Tristan O’Connor, a junior at Minuteman whose favorite subject is math, guided girls through a game of “Math Twister” on the floor of a science lab, which led students to become entangled as she directed them to find coefficients and prime numbers with their hands and feet. O’Connor said she was in sixth grade when a teacher recognized her math skills and challenged her to do more. Today she takes math courses two years above her grade level and hopes to inspire younger girls to develop an appreciation for math. Regional Education Summits- Coming to a city near you!
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt™ is pleased to announce our summer Education Summit event series “Connect. Converse. Cultivate.” We recognize that your school isn’t like any other school and your student body isn’t one size fits all. There is no “uniform” methodology that works from desk to desk or school to school. There are, however, great ideas, useful anecdotes, and best practices amongst school leaders in your community. The Education Summits are designed to bring together education leaders in the Private, Parochial and Charter school communities to foster in-depth dialogue coupled with presentations and collaborative workshops that offer strategies and tools to better serve your students and faculty. Further, we will be there with our industry expertise and powerful full-scale solutions to equip you with the confidence you need to face the challenges moving forward and end-to-end offerings to effectively impact your school’s success and your students’ achievement. To view cities and dates, visit our registration site today! We look forward to seeing you this summer! |
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Product Spotlight
ScienceFusion is a state-of-the-art science program designed for building inquiry and STEM, and is optimized for learning in the classroom, at home, on a laptop, a tablet, or using a textbook. The Digital Curriculum, Virtual Labs and hands-on activities, and write-in science textbook develop important critical-thinking skills that prepare students for success in future science courses and in the workplace. Find out more about Science Fusion. |
Professional Development Corner – Heinemann
The Teacher Tip A free app from Heinemann PublishingBring Heinemann's expert teacher-authors into your classroom! The Heinemann Teacher Tip delivers ideas and inspiration from our authors directly to your device every school day. Sharpen your practice and share with colleagues for PD on the go. Sample topics from recent tips: |
Announcing the 2015 Game-Changer Award from HMHAt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, we’re proud to be longtime partners of the passionate game-changers who lead the Charter movement. The 2015 Game-Changer Award from HMH is designed to recognize outstanding educators in charter schools who go above and beyond every day to advance student achievement. Is there a teacher at your school who consistently finds innovative ways to engage students in the classroom? Or a principal who has been instrumental in driving progress for the entire school? If so, recognize these outstanding educators by nominating them for the 2015 Game-Changer Award. Selected recipients from charter schools will be honored at one of our summer Education Leadership Summits and announced via email and our e-newsletter this June. Click here to submit a nomination. Deadline is May 20. |
Financial Resources to Help Your School Excel
This month’s featured grant: National Partnerships from Best Buy Foundation. Best Buy Foundation works to help teens explore their passions in technology and inspire future education and career choices. They support programs and curriculum that encourage teens to learn, experiment, collaborate and play with the latest technologies so that teens will become excited about learning and fluent with new technologies, developing skills and experiences to help them succeed in their careers, contribute to their communities and lead outstanding lives. Average Amount Awarded:Varies between $5,000–$10,000 Deadline to Apply: May 1, August 1, and November 1 Find more grants with our Free Grant Database. |
Upcoming EventsVisit us at one of these local events in your area:5/7/2015–5/8/2015 - Washington State Charter School Conference, Seattle, WA |
Our Vision: From the Desk of HMH Leadership“It seems as though “learning science” is on the precipice of a breakthrough. Cognitive science research is going to drive innovation and learning and will help us provide the best solutions for learners.” Susan Magsamen, Senior Vice-President, Early Learning for HMH, on her key takeaways from SXSWedu 2015. Read more about her takeaways as well as other HMH Senior Leaders here. |