WSST Member Submissions

Cultivating Genius: Adapting Lessons to Bring Out the Genius in All Students

By Kevin Anderson, WI DPI

I have a hard time connecting with some frameworks for equity-based teaching. Often, that’s because they don’t connect as well as I’d like to science teaching. The Cultivating Genius Framework from Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, on the other hand, provides a simple tool to reflect on lesson and unit design. Her framework includes the following 5 elements, and I note how they’d work within science: • Intellect: the disciplinary core ideas of science (DCIs) and ways of thinking of science (i.e., CCCs) • Skills: the science and engineering practices (SEPs) • Identity: connections to students’ interests and cultures, current events, and local contexts (some ideas in Appendix A of the WI Science Standards). • Criticality: how is this science going to help change our community and the broader world? • Joy: linking to the beauty and wonder of science, as well as the collaborative nature of it So, what might this look like in practice to adapt existing materials? Let’s start from some high-quality and free materials, OpenSciEd, specifically the 7th grade unit on matter cycling and photosynthesis – “Where does our food come from and where does it go next?” In this unit students explore the growth of plants, creation of food, and decomposition of food materials. Applying Dr. Muhammad’s framework: This unit already effectively brings in the 3 dimensions of the WSS/NGSS = intellect and skills. Students develop a strong conceptual understanding of these topics and do science. Identity: The lesson starts out with maple syrup and students watch a video of tapping a maple tree. Instead, classes could go out and actually tap trees to connecting to their local environment and native understanding of ecosystems and science. Criticality: Later in the unit, students grow plants hydroponically. They could connect this work to growing healthy food for the school cafeteria (and eating it!) and consider issues such as the impact of food deserts in communities and over-consumption of processed foods. Joy: Students could take a walk in a local forest or other ecosystem to observe plant growth and decomposition. If the environment is close by a local forest, they might do multiple measurements over time in the spring when plants are growing like crazy. A teacher could also add a group project related to local plants, food, decomposers, etc. that benefits a local food pantry. There are so many possibilities for making our lessons better connect to the identity, joy, and critical perspectives of our students! The challenge, of course, is time. Like I always do, I’ll emphasize that it’s better to engage students deeply in their world than it is to cover more content. They will remember the ideas better and be able to better apply them to new situations. Their scientific literacy will also increase. If we want students to be careful consumers of the (mis)information overload around them, some coverage must give way to more opportunities for locally connected, critical thinking.

Throughout our history, there were some interesting twists related to the economics of organization membership. In a 1965 newsletter, there were comments about the tax deductibility of professional association dues (which is now gone). Periodically during the 1960’s there were published lists of “arrears”, with members-talk about shaming people who hadn’t paid. Happily, that disappeared! Conferences were generally quite inexpensive with fees comparable to dues until we grew and would no longer fit in student unions or similar college facilities. As we needed more space, the cost of conferences increased. This was a phenomenon of the 1980’s. In the early 2000’s there were several years where deals were offered for multiple year memberships at several levels: regular, retired and student. How popular these were is hard to say. I have a strong hunch they were difficult for organizational record-keeping. As you can see from the data, we are currently in the longest period of dues stability for the organization! Although I do not know the dues for other professional teacher organizations, it seems to me that WSST membership dues have increased gradually with careful consideration from leadership over the years.

Decades of WSST Dues

By Karyl Rosenberg, WSST Historian

As we experience rising prices throughout the broader economy, the question of cost for membership in professional organizations may easily become an item of discussion. Looking back over the nearly sixty-five years of the existence of WSST, it is valuable to consider the trends in the dues assessed to belong to our organization. As you look at this list of annual dues over the years, consider what the standard salaries for teachers were and how much other things cost at the time.

1958 – 1967 $2.00 1968 – 1974 $3.00 1975 – 1978 $4.00 1979 – 1981 $5.00 1982 – 1989 $6.00 1990 – 1995 $10.00 1996 – 2000 $15.00 2001 – 2006 $20.00 Retired $10.00 Students $6.00 2007 – present $25.00 Retired $15.00 Students $10.00

Throughout our history, there were some interesting twists related to the economics of organization membership. In a 1965 newsletter, there were comments about the tax deductibility of professional association dues (which is now gone). Periodically during the 1960’s there were published lists of “arrears”, with members-talk about shaming people who hadn’t paid. Happily, that disappeared! Conferences were generally quite inexpensive with fees comparable to dues until we grew and would no longer fit in student unions or similar college facilities. As we needed more space, the cost of conferences increased. This was a phenomenon of the 1980’s. In the early 2000’s there were several years where deals were offered for multiple year memberships at several levels: regular, retired and student. How popular these were is hard to say. I have a strong hunch they were difficult for organizational record-keeping. As you can see from the data, we are currently in the longest period of dues stability for the organization! Although I do not know the dues for other professional teacher organizations, it seems to me that WSST membership dues have increased gradually with careful consideration from leadership over the years.