ED 645

Module 8 Blog - Classroom and Career Goals (Photo credit: Creative Commons High School Diploma) This is it! My final class for my STEM Teaching & Learning certificate! What are my takeaways from completing the program? My main goal for the course of study was to increase my knowledge of STEM in the secondary classroom. In doing so, I was immersed in the latest research on methods and best practices while learning valuable lessons from my peers and professors. Along the way, I learned how to help my students achieve more by writing an Action Project that could help my students become more savvy in mathematics. I also learned the best practices for classroom management in the STEM classroom, wrote a detailed Unit Plan, and learned how to best assess what my students have learned through rubrics, and formative and summative assessments. As far as my career goals, earning the Certificate for STEM Teaching and Learning will help me in my current position and perhaps bey...

Contacting parents about a student's shortcomings can be a stressful experience, especially over email. In print, so many words and phrases can be taken out of context, which can cause tempers to flare. Over my years of experience in the classroom, I have learned that I should just stick to the facts when emailing a parent. By sticking to objective, rather than subjective words and phrases, I have found that parents are less likely to take my words out of context and just generally be more agreeable. What follows is a parent contact I had just this week regarding a student's failing grade in my class. The trimester ends next week, so parents at my school are on high alert for any grades that might prevent their child from passing or earning honor roll. Prior to this initial email from the child's parent, I had given the 8th grade student a printout of her assignments so that she could start to remedy the situation. I had the students work on her missing/failing assignment...