Friday Afternoon Conquerers

FOR TEACHERS, THE END OF THE SCHOOL WEEK IS USUALLY ABOUT ONE THING: SURVIVAL. SO HOW DOES JENNY COBB’S STEM 6 READING CLASS STACK UP WHEN IT COMES TO HOLDING THE ATTENTION OF READY-FOR-THE-WEEKEND TEENAGERS?

— By Brendan J. O’Brien

In the front of the classroom a small projector beams a square of yellow light onto a whiteboard. The machine, humming gently, is the size of a thick hardcover book and attached to a pole that dangles from the ceiling. In purpose, it’s identical to those clunky projectors that teachers from the seventies, eighties, and nineties would roll out of their storage closets and wheel to the center of classrooms all across America. In appearance and functionality, however, the two could not be more different. This one is smaller and prettier, more powerful, less messy, and – just hanging there overhead – doesn’t take up any storage space.

“Let’s take a look at your problems again,” says Jenny Cobb, Middle School Reading teacher. “Remember, this has to be a new idea. You can’t just take a solution that’s already out there.”

This is STEM 6 Reading and it won’t shock anyone familiar with 6th graders – or with Fridays – that the closer the weekend gets, the shorter attention spans can become. In fact, this very class began with boys chatting about the NBA playoffs. A girl studied her silhouette in the glow of the projector, using the shadow to adjust her ponytail. Another student was playing a game on her iPad. Etc. Etc.

However, after the daily brain teaser – a fun word problem or prompt that Cobb beams onto the whiteboard – something happens throughout the classroom as she starts talking shop. Chaos melts in calm. Students start filling out a pair of handouts: Resource Checking and Product Ideas Notes Organizer. They are interested, they are eager, and even at 2:30PM on a Friday, they are invested.

“Students like the hands-on discovery process for each challenge,” says Cobb. “I love to watch the wheels turn, to see students have ‘aha moments’ when they test a design and think of a way to fix it.”

On this particular afternoon Cobb’s students are asking themselves the same question the folks who enhanced the original projector probably asked themselves twenty-some years ago: is there a better way?

Cars getting hydrolocked during floods. Electronic addiction. Oceanic pollution. High-tech cooling sweatshirts. Each of the students has identified a problem or possibility that interests them, and now they are in the beginning stages of research that will ultimately end in a brand new solution.

“Students this age appreciate time to create,” says Cobb. “They like the open-ended nature of these challenges and working to solve a problem. It reminds them of when they were younger. They are discovering as they build.”

STEM 6 Reading was the brainchild of Kathy Boero, Head of Middle School, and Head of School Dr. Nat Coffman quickly fast tracked her vision. After that, Cobb was tasked with developing a curriculum intended to prepare students for greater success in higher level test taking and in math and science classes. The course is intentionally fluid as she collaborates often with the students’ content-area teachers to identify what support skills they would like her to reinforce.

In a way, the entire class is a strategic, concerted effort to arm kids with the critical thinking skills many seem to lack these days.

“In this age of ‘Googling’ I am finding that students do not have confidence in their problem-solving,” says Cobb. “STEM 6 develops that stamina and perseverance and promotes collaboration as they move through the reading and conquer these challenges.”

Kathy Boero, Head of Middle School, Discusses How STEM 6 is Impacting Students

There are two areas where significant changes have been observed and are in great part due to students participating in STEM 6 Reading.

The first is a change in how our kids are viewing failure. Students learn through their problem-solving, creating, and data collecting that failure is expected. They begin thinking like engineers and inventors, and come to see failure as an opportunity to try other solutions, collaborate with a team, and try again.

Secondly, teachers have also observed progress is in the area of increased learning stamina. Faster isn’t always best and students learn to keep trying in STEM 6. Persevering through improvement, recording data, and seeing progress are skills developed in this class. Students no longer expect to get things done quickly, hand it in, and move on. They work on projects for weeks, continually testing and researching before presenting their findings to their classmates.