December 5, 2022 • 25 mins
In this episode, Eric Cross sits with K–5 educator, Janis Lodge to chat about building on her own science curriculum to create meaningful project-based learning experiences. Janis shares her work teaching Gifted and Talented Education (GATE), and how to use those practices to help accelerate the learning of all students. Eric and Janis also talk about making time for science within K–5 classrooms.
Check out the project Janis created for her class here!
Follow Janis in her classroom on Instagram: @JanisLearningLodge
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
To me, the reward of having those kids feel like they
accomplish something and the waythat they can take ownership of
it and go in so many differentdirections, I cannot take that
away from them.
That's such an opportunity thatif I have the means to do it, I
have to just take it and runwith it.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to Science Connections.
I'm your host Eric Cross.
My guest today is Janice Lodge.
Janice is a third grade teacherin Orange County, California
with a specialization in giftedand talented education.
Recently, Janice was awarded theOrange County Council for the
Gifted and Talented EducationClassroom grant.
This grant funds a project thatprovides an extension to her
(00:40):
third grade science unit aboutenvironments and survival.
Through this project, studentswill think like a biomimicry
engineer as they design a robotthat is inspired by an
innovation found in nature.
In this episode, we discuss howshe uses interdisciplinary
teaching practices to make timefor science learning why gifted
and talented educationstrategies can benefit all
students and her process forcreating a problem based lesson
(01:04):
that ultimately earned her agrant for her classroom.
And now please enjoy myconversation with Janice Lodge.
One.
Welcome.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Of course, I am happy to do it.
I'm excited for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Of course.
Yeah.
And elementary school teachersin science, I feel like there's
so many things to haveconversations about and some of
the things that you've reallyfocused on I think are, are
really, really important.
And so, but I wanna start offwith kind of your journey of, of
you becoming a, a teacher in, inthe classroom.
And so would you kind of giveyour, your background, like your
origin story, how did you end upas a, as a third grade teacher?
(01:37):
Well,
Speaker 1 (01:38):
My story is definitely not a traditional
story.
Uh, before I was a teacher, Iwas actually living in Maui,
Hawaii.
I moved there right aftercollege.
I went to Chico State inNorthern California.
And I got a degree in graphicdesign.
And after I graduated, well, Ishould give a little bit of a
backstory.
My last summer beforegraduating, I spent the whole
summer in Maui and I just fellin love with it.
(02:01):
So when I graduated, I decidedinstead of applying for jobs in
Northern California, I'm justgonna put some resumes out in
Maui and see if I can get a job.
And I did.
I ended up getting a job doinggraphic design and marketing for
a kite serve company out there.
And I ended up just staying forseven years on the island.
And, um, after about sevenyears, I kind of got a little
(02:24):
bit of island fever and decidedI wanted to come back to
California.
I wasn't sure exactly what Iwanted to do, but I just had
this kind of like this callingthat I need to do something a
little more fulfilling with mylife.
And I started thinking aboutdifferent ideas and dreams I
had.
And I actually started thinkingabout when I was younger, right?
I had this dream.
If you were to ask me when I was10 years old, what I wanted to
(02:45):
be when I grow up, it would beelementary school teacher,
really, believe it or not, whenI was younger, I transformed my
bedroom into a classroom.
My stuffed animals were mystudents.
I just thought I'm gonna be thenext best teacher ever.
And um, you know, as I wentthrough life and kind of went
different directions, I kind oflost sight of that dream a
(03:06):
little bit.
But, um, for some reason when Idecided to change careers, I
just remembered that.
And so I just decided to go getmy teaching credential and see
if it worked out.
And it was probably the bestdecision I made.
I, I feel like everything justfell perfectly into place.
Um, I ended up getting a job atan amazing school and now five
(03:26):
years later I'm a third gradeteacher.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So the, one of the questions I have to ask and, and
talking to elementary schoolteachers, this comes up a lot.
How do you make time for scienceas an elementary school teacher
who's teaching everything?
And let me kind of premise thiswith, at least for those of us
in California, and I'm sure therest of the states too.
But we know this, there's kindof this pressure with pacing and
then even depending on whatschool you're at, math and
(03:48):
English tend to get the bulk ofthings.
And maybe there's thisperception also of like, well, I
gotta teach math and English,and sometimes science gets put
to the back burner for differentreasons.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Well, um, you're exactly right.
The beginning of the year wewere provided with a pacing from
the district.
And you know, we, they try tokeep us on track saying you
should be starting unit two atthis time.
And, um, but other than that,there's really no specific
guidelines of how many dayswe're supposed to be teaching in
or for how long.
Um, but one kind of secret thatI've discovered is that I can
(04:21):
weave science into the othersubjects, um, specifically with
language arts.
So quite often what I do is Itake a look at the language arts
standard and if it's identifyingthe key details and the main
idea, well I can do that withthe science books used from the
curriculum.
So I'll just pull those readersand we'll do the exact same
skill, start with the samestandard, but we'll use the
(04:43):
content from science by doingthat.
We call that kind of like thatinterdisciplinary study.
And the students really enjoythat more too, because they're
using the same skills butthey're diving deeper into the
content.
Right.
And so also that helps build thebackground knowledge.
So then when it comes to timewhere if I want to do a science
lab or a science investigation,now they already have that
(05:04):
background knowledge cuz we've,we already dove deep into the
reading and they can apply thatpretty quickly right away into
their lab or whatever activitythey're doing.
Can,
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Can you give an example maybe of how you might
pull out something that might bea skill that you're trying to
develop, maybe in an Englishcontent, but you would pull that
out of a, in a science lessonmaybe?
What would
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You do?
We're actually doing that rightnow.
So we're in our second unit ofscience and they're studying
inheritance and traits andthey're looking at different
organisms to see how they haveadaptations to help them survive
in their environment.
So coincidentally part of theliteracy skills is to look at
multiple sources, do researchand summarize and make analysis
(05:45):
of what they're reading.
And so we have different variedresources.
I have websites, I have books,eBooks, videos and pictures.
And they're choosing which foursources they want to use.
And then, then they're coming upwith a, uh, summary at the end
and then putting together aGoogle slide presentation based
on whatever organism that theychose.
(06:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Did you have a science background before coming
into becoming an elementaryschool teacher?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Um, not none.
Besides what I, you know, tookin high school and college.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Did you find it easy to kind of, to lean into the
science or, or well, was itsomething you just kind of
jumped into and said, all right,I'm gonna get after it?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
What's interesting is if, you know, throughout my
education, my, my favoritesubjects were English and
reading and writing and art.
And it quite honestly, sciencewasn't my favorite subject.
But I've, and I think because ofthat, that inspires me to come
up with creative ways ofpresenting the information to
(06:43):
them and making it exciting andengaging for them because I
don't want them to feel thatway.
I want them to be excited aboutall subjects.
And I think that's the beauty ofcombining the, the different
subjects like I mentionedbefore.
Like I say, you know, what woulda, a scholar do?
What would a what think like awildlife biologist, um, and like
(07:04):
with my project, think like abiomimicry engineer.
And so it kind of shifts theirthinking.
Like it's not just, oh, we haveto do study science.
It's like, no, you are thescientist, you are a
meteorologist or you are anauthor.
How would an author write aboutthis?
How would an illustrator capturethis in a photo or a comic
strip?
Um, and so when you reallycombine those disciplines, you
(07:26):
can take it to another level.
So even if science isn't theirfavorite subject, like maybe it
wasn't for me growing up, theycan still take something they're
passionate about and apply thescience content to it and they
really resonate with them.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You leaned into your strengths, which are more like
coming into it.
You had all these kind ofcreative strength mm-hmm.
, you have thatbackground as a graphics
designer, you were into thearts.
But then with those strengths,did that kinda give you more
confidence to, to kind of diveinto the science work because
you approached it from this,your, your assets that you were
already coming into the tablewith?
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (07:55):
You said it perfectly.
If you look at it from adifferent lens, there's all
these different ways you canapproach science.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I find it in my own science class too.
It's, we're all teaching similarsta the same standards mm-hmm.
, but how Iapproach it is through Eric
Cross's kind of personality andunderstanding and, and my angle
and another teacher might do ita different way, but we're,
we're all leading to the samedestination.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That kind of leads me to my next question and, and
this is kind of having to dowith the project that you just
alluded to the the biomimicryproject.
So you did a biomimicry project.
Would you consider that like aproject based learning
assignment?
Well,
Speaker 1 (08:27):
This will be the third year that I've taught this
unit and when I wrapped it uplast year, it's through the
amplified science program.
And they do a wonderful job ofhaving um, a lot of
investigations and reallythinking like a biomimicry
engineer.
But the final part of the unitwas to design a robot inspired
by, um, a giraffe to eliminateinvasive plants in a particular
(08:50):
environment.
And the project part of it atthe end was to create a model,
um, using Popsicle sticks andpipe cleaners.
And then the other part of itwas a digital simulation where
they would put in differentshape structures of teeth and
um, kind of reconfigure theshape of the mouth and then
they'd put in what they think iseffective and then the computer
(09:11):
would say, oh, you're 98%successful or 70% successful.
And I remember at the end of itthe students were like, okay,
well when do we make the robots?
And I thought, well, we're justdoing the simulation or we're
just doing this model out ofPopsicle sticks, we're not
actually gonna make a robot.
And they just seemed sodisappointed.
And that's kind of how thewheels started turning my head
(09:33):
like, well what if they actuallycould make a robot?
The only thing stopping me is Idon't have the materials to do
it.
So, um, shortly after that unitwrapped up, coincidentally I saw
the email about this grantopportunity that was being
offered through the OrangeCounty Council for Gifted
Education.
And they said If you have aproject that you wanna get
funded that would promote gatestrategies within the classroom,
(09:55):
then you can submit thisproposal.
So that's how the ball gotrolling for that proposal.
And um, I researched differentrobotics kits and different
companies and I found one thatwas really user friendly for
third graders and not sodifficult for me to learn as
well.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You're a risk taker.
Like I'm already seeing this asI'm talking to you.
Is that just who you are or doyou have a network?
Like what keeps you taking theserisks?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I don't, I don't really consider a risk because
it's exciting for me.
Like I said, I don't know thatmuch about robotics, but the
idea of learning more and thenteaching that to my students is
exciting.
And you know, there was a littlebit of risk cuz I'm deviating a
little bit from the curriculumfrom the standard lesson.
But to me, the reward of havingthose kids feel like they
accomplished something and theway that they can take ownership
(10:41):
of it and go in so manydifferent directions and on top
of that, develop coding skillsand computer science skills and
robotic skills, to me it wasjust like I cannot take that
away from them.
That's such an opportunity thatif I have the means to do it, I
have to just take it and runwith it.
So I think just being inspiredby the potential outcomes of
(11:02):
what could happen is what mademe take that risk.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Did you just kind of create this from scratch?
Did you work with a team ofpeople?
How did you come to the pointwhere you were ready to present
this for the grant?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Um, pretty much from a scratch.
Like I said, the Amplify Unit,it does teach them about
robotics that were inspired bynature.
So some of the materials thatthey read, and there's some
videos that show really greatexamples.
There's like a robotic arm thatwas inspired by an elephant
trunk.
There's a book that shows whatthis field is biomimicry
engineer.
(11:32):
They actually show like whatthey do in that field.
And I thought this is a perfectway to apply it because the less
the curriculum's already prettymuch set it up for me now I just
have to add this one finalcomponent to it.
And essentially it becomesproject based learning at that
point because they're takingtheir knowledge and their skills
that they've learned up to thatpoint.
Um, even the unit that we'redoing doing right now is
(11:54):
building up to it.
So it's kind of that final,instead of giving them a test at
the end and saying, okay, tellme what you learned about
inheritance and traits andenvironments.
They can actually take thatknowledge and apply it to, um,
an innovation or creation thatcomes out of their own, their
own mind, which is so much morepowerful.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Do they, do they connect to any other learning
goals as they're doing theseprojects?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Well I think first and foremost it, the 21st
century skills that we, from dayone I tell, tell them, you know,
the four Cs, collaboration,creativity, communication, and
critical thinking.
Um, all of those are woven inthrough this lesson.
From the beginning we talkedabout the whole engineering
design process.
So from the beginning they startwith a question and oftentimes
(12:39):
that actually can be the hardestfor them to think about what's a
scientific question or a problemthat I wanna solve.
If they're passionate aboutmaybe a sport or the environment
or something within theirschool.
And I go, there it is, okay,that's the problem.
How can you design somethinginspired by nature to solve that
problem?
And then from there they go intothe planning and the designing
(13:00):
and the testing and then theimproving.
So going through thatengineering design process, um,
I think is what really makesthem feel like they are the
engineer going through this.
And they can make mistakes.
They can take risks.
Um, a lot of my students I foundare afraid to take risks.
They wanna make sure theysucceed and they need that
(13:20):
challenge to know that if theydo fail, that's okay, we can
just revisit this, we can testit, we can look at it in a
different way.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
You maybe wonder about how, how do you assess
something like this?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Um, I think that's where all those stages along the
way are important because I, Iwanna make sure that they have a
plan and that it's based on theknowledge that they've gained in
the unit.
Um, I think one of the otherthings about project based
learning is the, the finalproduct of how they demonstrate
their mastery.
And in my classroom I oftentimesgive them a choice of how
(13:53):
they're gonna present that tome.
So maybe they're going to writeit out like an essay.
Maybe they're gonna create aGoogle slide, maybe they're
gonna make a video, maybethey're going to, obviously in
this part they will have themodel, but they'll have to have
some way to explain it to me.
And I think giving them thatchoice gives them, um, the
opportunity to show it in theway that's meaningful to
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Them.
And are you using like a rubricwhen you're grading these, these
assignments?
Or how do you actually grade it?
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yes.
So we have a rubric that'sprovided to us for the written
component that all the studentswill do at the end.
Mm-hmm.
, but I can takethat same rubric and see if
they've applied that to theproject.
Mm-hmm.
.
So even the verbiage wouldn'treally need to change.
I think it's still importantthat the students are able to
demonstrate this in written formand so all of them will still
complete that written component,but to also give them the
(14:43):
opportunity to show that in likethe modality of their choice, I
think is really important too.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right.
And you have some students thatfeel much more comfortable being
able to, able to present orallyversus Exactly.
Versus writing versus maybedoing a video.
I, I mean we see that in middleschool and, and in high school
too.
Students show their knowledge ortheir understanding of a topic
depending on the medium indifferent ways and some better
than others.
Some uh, may find that they cancommunicate it a lot better
orally, but when Penn goes topaper or fingers go to keyboard,
(15:09):
you might grade it completelydifferent cuz you're not,
they're not able to transferwhat's in their mind into
writing and the way you're doingit and giving that student
choice, they probably have somuch more buy-in I'd imagine
because they got to pick whatthey get to do.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
You, you said something earlier and I wanna
come back to it.
So you mentioned GA and this isGATE is not something that I, I
hear a lot in my world, but itwas something I heard a lot when
I was in school.
There were kind of all of theseperceptions and ideas about gate
mm-hmm.
, you're a GATEteacher, correct.
Right.
What is GATE and what is it likebeing a GATE teacher?
What are their misconceptions if, if any, that you might have
(15:45):
heard or come across?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Um, well, so GATE stands for Gifted and Talented
Education and, um, first andforemost I think a misconception
is that we're just kind of doingwhatever we want.
We come up with our own lessonsand, and teach a totally
different curriculum, which is,is definitely a myth because we
start with the exact samestandards as any other third
(16:07):
grade class that you'd walkinto.
That's definitely like where westart.
But I think in addition to thestandards, we also implement
what are called GATE standards.
So they're depth, complexity,acceleration, and novelty.
And there's a lot of tools thatwe use in the classroom.
Different strategies.
You'll see things like theprompts of depth and complexity.
(16:27):
We'll use things like think likea disciplinarian, which I'm
doing think like a biomimicryengineer.
Um, but really all they are arejust thinking tools and
strategies to elevate studentsthinking and kind of go below
that surface level of thecontent to dive deeper.
Um, it also providesopportunities for acceleration.
(16:47):
So for example, with this, ourlast science unit, it was on
magnetic force and there was ahandful of students that just
grasped the concepts right awayand they're ready for something
else.
They're ready for more rigor,they need some challenge.
And so at that point I can kindof pull that group aside and
provide some differentiation forthem.
And I said, okay, well you, youunderstand the concept of
(17:10):
magnetic force balance forces,so now what I want you to do is
think about something thatyou're really passionate about
and how could you use magneticforce somewhere in that field
again to solve a problem,problem based learning and
present it to me.
So they create this, um, form,it's like a think like a
disciplinarian frame and one ofthem was think like a hockey
(17:32):
player and he's trying to thinkof, um, a way that he can
incorporate magnetic force.
Anyway, I could go on and on,but basically it's, it's
finding what these students'passions are.
And I do that with all mystudents.
And I should probably prefacethis by saying that even though
these are standards that Iimplement in my classroom
because it's a GATE classroom,these are practices and tools
(17:54):
that can be applied to anylearner mm-hmm.
at any age.
And they really just enrich theeducation for all students.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So your classroom is, is a mixed classroom.
There's GATE students and thengeneral Right.
Students, non gate, uh, studentsin the same class.
It's interesting because Iimagine GATE is kind of
scaffolding up to, to a higherlevel, but then mm-hmm.
, you also saidsomething that I've noticed when
I'm creating scaffolds for mystudents to, to support them who
may not be at a grade level,maybe in reading or literacy or
(18:23):
math, those same scaffolds canhelp all students.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
So yeah, I don't, I don't just go, okay, you're my
GATE students, I'm gonna usethese practices on you.
I use it for the whole class.
Um, but I'm also surprised byhaving that mix of these
different learning styles.
A lot of times students areinspired by other students or,
you know, we have this big thingabout one of the prompts is
multiple perspectives.
I try to do that as much as Ican because students are
(18:48):
inspired by the ideas of theirpeers.
And quite often, you know, ifthey hear it from a peer, it
could be exactly what I justsaid, but they heard their
students say it in a differentway and it just clicks and
they're like, wow, I get that.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I, and I think a lot of teachers struggle or, or
maybe feel ill-equipped tosupport higher level students.
Did you get trained to be, to bea GATE teacher first?
Lemme ask that question.
Did you get a special trainingfor this?
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yes.
I went through a course, I thinkit was like a six weeks, six
week certification coursethrough my
Speaker 2 (19:19):
District.
And Okay, so you, you got, yougot a special training, which
I've been in the classroom fornine years.
I teach at a university as anadjunct professor, but I've
never been trained on teachinggifted or accelerated students.
And I'm kind of wondering now,like, did it, you feel like it
made you a better teacher?
Absolutely.
And, and if so, how do I, how doI get to do this?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Well, it's through the county.
I mean, I, anybody can gettrained and certified how to
teach this way.
But, um, just like you said, Ithink coming out of that, my
eyes were just open.
And my biggest takeaway is thatthese practices, even though
they are designed for gifted andtalented, um, it really kind of
reshaped my thinking about how Inumber one present material to
(20:00):
the students.
That I'm doing it in an engagingway and I'm not just lecturing
at them.
There's opportunities for themto collaborate and communicate
and use multiple resources.
Um, so you know, how I'mteaching has changed.
Um, and then also how I'mproviding opportunities for them
to demonstrate their learning.
And a lot of that is projectbased learning because once they
(20:21):
have the knowledge and skillsthey want, they need to do
something with it.
I mean, that's really the truedefinition of innovation is
taking the skills or takingsomething that you've learned
and now go with it.
Run with it.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
How, uh, how can we take what you've learned and
then, and kind of spread it.
So teachers have this in theirtoolkit too.
Like for me, I have, uh, themultiple ways to be able to
support reading and literacy andmath and tools and sentence
frames.
Mm-hmm.
and my studentswho have, uh, special learning
plans, I have a have a lot oftool sets for that.
I wanna build my tool sets forthis other area for my students
who want to continue, who wannarun or go beyond or even stretch
(20:53):
themselves.
I think we need to take some ofthe things that you're doing and
not make them kind of like thisexclusive group, but also let's,
let's share it with everyone cuzit's mm-hmm.
, everybody canaccess it.
I
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Agree.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
We might, we might see a lot more potential or a
lot more opportunities forstudents who might not otherwise
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Have them.
And one thing, my school, I'mreally proud to say that my
principal has, has seen that.
You know, he's like, well whyare we just keeping this in the
gate classroom?
So he's working on getting allof our teachers certified.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
No, I love what you're doing and your principal
sounds, sounds awesome for doingthat and recognizing that this
can, this can benefit morestudents than just the ones who
mm-hmm.
, you know, passthe Raven Test, I think is what
it's called when I was taking,or whatever it is, you know,
whatever it is back then.
Exactly.
We've talked about project basedlearning, the Gate classroom.
I, I kind of wanna come back toyou and as, as we wrap up
thinking about like, the jobsthat you and I do and the people
(21:41):
that listen to this podcast, wehave one of the few jobs that
people remember us for alifetime.
And I wanna ask you, who, whowas someone that was maybe
inspirational in youreducational career that inspired
you or is maybe one of the mostmemorable?
You might have several mm-hmm.
, but who issomeone that, that was memorable
to you in your career and why?
Why were they memorable to you?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah.
Well obviously when I wasyounger I was definitely
inspired by all my teachers.
The fact that I turned mybedroom into a classroom, I just
was just in awe of thisprofession.
Um, but I think one that reallyresonated with me was my junior
year in high school.
I was taking a newspaper classand the teacher was Mrs.
Kavanaugh and she really taughtus everything from writing the
(22:23):
articles to the editing, toputting the pages together.
And I remember in that class Iwas working on this program
called Cork Express.
I don't even know if it existsanymore, but I was just
fascinated with putting allthese pieces together that we'd
worked on for so long andgetting the articles, picking
the pictures, the illustrationsand the titles.
(22:44):
And I remember her looking at mesaying, you really enjoy this,
don't you?
And I said, yeah.
And she said, well, I have acomputer graphics elective class
that you should take next year.
And I thought, okay, I'd love todo this, this opportunity to
expand my knowledge and myskills.
So because of that, I took thecomputer graphics class the next
year and um, I just rememberthroughout the, the whole time,
(23:05):
she was just constantlyencouraging me and acknowledging
my skills and I find myselfdoing that as a teacher as well.
Um, and cuz that reallyresonated with me.
And it's funny, this summer Iwas going through some boxes of
some old stuff from high schooland I found this handout that I
had made because I remember mysenior year of high school, she
said, Janice, you know what?
You're doing such a great job.
(23:27):
Uh, we have these new incomingstudents coming into the
newspaper class and I'd love foryou to actually teach them how
to do this page Nation on thisco express program.
I want you to put somethingtogether and actually teach it
to them.
I thought, wow, she believes inme that much that she's gonna
let me teach this to theincoming students.
Um, but I think my takeaway fromthat was that she gave me the
(23:48):
opportunity to take those skillsand, and actually do something
with them to apply them rightaway.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Mrs.
Kavanaugh, miss Kavanaugh, shoutout to Miss Kavanaugh.
Uh, as you told that story, Iheard you as a teacher because
I'm hearing she's applying thesegate strategies in that
situation.
That's what that's what I heard.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
She personalized this learning.
She created a specializedopportunity, you presented to a
real audience that wasauthentic.
Mm-hmm.
it, it had thispersonalization in it and this
rigor and this challenge and itmade a huge impact.
And it's, it's, it's justamazing to listen to you and
hear this come full circle andnow you're doing this with
little ones.
Uh, and I just wanna thank youfor your time on, uh, in doing
(24:30):
the interview, sharing yourstory with, uh, how you became a
teacher, your students, theprojects that you do.
And just like so many teachersgoing the extra mile for your
kids and bringing in thesereally important 21st century
skills gonna be so much betteroff for it.
And I know it makes my jobeasier when I get them in the
classroom, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah.
Well thank you for theopportunity.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
My pleasure.
Thanks so much for listening andwe wanna hear more about you and
the educators who inspire you.
You can nominate them as afuture guest on Science
Connections by emailingstem@amplify.com.
That's s t e m amplify.com.
And be sure to click subscribewherever you listen to podcasts
(25:13):
and join our Facebook groupScience Connections, the
Community.
Until next time.
To me, the reward of having those kids feel like they
accomplish something and the waythat they can take ownership of
it and go in so many differentdirections, I cannot take that
away from them.
That's such an opportunity thatif I have the means to do it, I
have to just take it and runwith it.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to Science Connections.
I'm your host Eric Cross.
My guest today is Janice Lodge.
Janice is a third grade teacherin Orange County, California
with a specialization in giftedand talented education.
Recently, Janice was awarded theOrange County Council for the
Gifted and Talented EducationClassroom grant.
This grant funds a project thatprovides an extension to her
(00:40):
third grade science unit aboutenvironments and survival.
Through this project, studentswill think like a biomimicry
engineer as they design a robotthat is inspired by an
innovation found in nature.
In this episode, we discuss howshe uses interdisciplinary
teaching practices to make timefor science learning why gifted
and talented educationstrategies can benefit all
students and her process forcreating a problem based lesson
(01:04):
that ultimately earned her agrant for her classroom.
And now please enjoy myconversation with Janice Lodge.
One.
Welcome.
Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Of course, I am happy to do it.
I'm excited for the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Of course.
Yeah.
And elementary school teachersin science, I feel like there's
so many things to haveconversations about and some of
the things that you've reallyfocused on I think are, are
really, really important.
And so, but I wanna start offwith kind of your journey of, of
you becoming a, a teacher in, inthe classroom.
And so would you kind of giveyour, your background, like your
origin story, how did you end upas a, as a third grade teacher?
(01:37):
Well,
Speaker 1 (01:38):
My story is definitely not a traditional
story.
Uh, before I was a teacher, Iwas actually living in Maui,
Hawaii.
I moved there right aftercollege.
I went to Chico State inNorthern California.
And I got a degree in graphicdesign.
And after I graduated, well, Ishould give a little bit of a
backstory.
My last summer beforegraduating, I spent the whole
summer in Maui and I just fellin love with it.
(02:01):
So when I graduated, I decidedinstead of applying for jobs in
Northern California, I'm justgonna put some resumes out in
Maui and see if I can get a job.
And I did.
I ended up getting a job doinggraphic design and marketing for
a kite serve company out there.
And I ended up just staying forseven years on the island.
And, um, after about sevenyears, I kind of got a little
(02:24):
bit of island fever and decidedI wanted to come back to
California.
I wasn't sure exactly what Iwanted to do, but I just had
this kind of like this callingthat I need to do something a
little more fulfilling with mylife.
And I started thinking aboutdifferent ideas and dreams I
had.
And I actually started thinkingabout when I was younger, right?
I had this dream.
If you were to ask me when I was10 years old, what I wanted to
(02:45):
be when I grow up, it would beelementary school teacher,
really, believe it or not, whenI was younger, I transformed my
bedroom into a classroom.
My stuffed animals were mystudents.
I just thought I'm gonna be thenext best teacher ever.
And um, you know, as I wentthrough life and kind of went
different directions, I kind oflost sight of that dream a
(03:06):
little bit.
But, um, for some reason when Idecided to change careers, I
just remembered that.
And so I just decided to go getmy teaching credential and see
if it worked out.
And it was probably the bestdecision I made.
I, I feel like everything justfell perfectly into place.
Um, I ended up getting a job atan amazing school and now five
(03:26):
years later I'm a third gradeteacher.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So the, one of the questions I have to ask and, and
talking to elementary schoolteachers, this comes up a lot.
How do you make time for scienceas an elementary school teacher
who's teaching everything?
And let me kind of premise thiswith, at least for those of us
in California, and I'm sure therest of the states too.
But we know this, there's kindof this pressure with pacing and
then even depending on whatschool you're at, math and
(03:48):
English tend to get the bulk ofthings.
And maybe there's thisperception also of like, well, I
gotta teach math and English,and sometimes science gets put
to the back burner for differentreasons.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Well, um, you're exactly right.
The beginning of the year wewere provided with a pacing from
the district.
And you know, we, they try tokeep us on track saying you
should be starting unit two atthis time.
And, um, but other than that,there's really no specific
guidelines of how many dayswe're supposed to be teaching in
or for how long.
Um, but one kind of secret thatI've discovered is that I can
(04:21):
weave science into the othersubjects, um, specifically with
language arts.
So quite often what I do is Itake a look at the language arts
standard and if it's identifyingthe key details and the main
idea, well I can do that withthe science books used from the
curriculum.
So I'll just pull those readersand we'll do the exact same
skill, start with the samestandard, but we'll use the
(04:43):
content from science by doingthat.
We call that kind of like thatinterdisciplinary study.
And the students really enjoythat more too, because they're
using the same skills butthey're diving deeper into the
content.
Right.
And so also that helps build thebackground knowledge.
So then when it comes to timewhere if I want to do a science
lab or a science investigation,now they already have that
(05:04):
background knowledge cuz we've,we already dove deep into the
reading and they can apply thatpretty quickly right away into
their lab or whatever activitythey're doing.
Can,
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Can you give an example maybe of how you might
pull out something that might bea skill that you're trying to
develop, maybe in an Englishcontent, but you would pull that
out of a, in a science lessonmaybe?
What would
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You do?
We're actually doing that rightnow.
So we're in our second unit ofscience and they're studying
inheritance and traits andthey're looking at different
organisms to see how they haveadaptations to help them survive
in their environment.
So coincidentally part of theliteracy skills is to look at
multiple sources, do researchand summarize and make analysis
(05:45):
of what they're reading.
And so we have different variedresources.
I have websites, I have books,eBooks, videos and pictures.
And they're choosing which foursources they want to use.
And then, then they're coming upwith a, uh, summary at the end
and then putting together aGoogle slide presentation based
on whatever organism that theychose.
(06:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Did you have a science background before coming
into becoming an elementaryschool teacher?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Um, not none.
Besides what I, you know, tookin high school and college.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Did you find it easy to kind of, to lean into the
science or, or well, was itsomething you just kind of
jumped into and said, all right,I'm gonna get after it?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
What's interesting is if, you know, throughout my
education, my, my favoritesubjects were English and
reading and writing and art.
And it quite honestly, sciencewasn't my favorite subject.
But I've, and I think because ofthat, that inspires me to come
up with creative ways ofpresenting the information to
(06:43):
them and making it exciting andengaging for them because I
don't want them to feel thatway.
I want them to be excited aboutall subjects.
And I think that's the beauty ofcombining the, the different
subjects like I mentionedbefore.
Like I say, you know, what woulda, a scholar do?
What would a what think like awildlife biologist, um, and like
(07:04):
with my project, think like abiomimicry engineer.
And so it kind of shifts theirthinking.
Like it's not just, oh, we haveto do study science.
It's like, no, you are thescientist, you are a
meteorologist or you are anauthor.
How would an author write aboutthis?
How would an illustrator capturethis in a photo or a comic
strip?
Um, and so when you reallycombine those disciplines, you
(07:26):
can take it to another level.
So even if science isn't theirfavorite subject, like maybe it
wasn't for me growing up, theycan still take something they're
passionate about and apply thescience content to it and they
really resonate with them.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You leaned into your strengths, which are more like
coming into it.
You had all these kind ofcreative strength mm-hmm.
designer, you were into thearts.
But then with those strengths,did that kinda give you more
confidence to, to kind of diveinto the science work because
you approached it from this,your, your assets that you were
already coming into the tablewith?
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (07:55):
You said it perfectly.
If you look at it from adifferent lens, there's all
these different ways you canapproach science.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I find it in my own science class too.
It's, we're all teaching similarsta the same standards mm-hmm.
Cross's kind of personality andunderstanding and, and my angle
and another teacher might do ita different way, but we're,
we're all leading to the samedestination.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That kind of leads me to my next question and, and
this is kind of having to dowith the project that you just
alluded to the the biomimicryproject.
So you did a biomimicry project.
Would you consider that like aproject based learning
assignment?
Well,
Speaker 1 (08:27):
This will be the third year that I've taught this
unit and when I wrapped it uplast year, it's through the
amplified science program.
And they do a wonderful job ofhaving um, a lot of
investigations and reallythinking like a biomimicry
engineer.
But the final part of the unitwas to design a robot inspired
by, um, a giraffe to eliminateinvasive plants in a particular
(08:50):
environment.
And the project part of it atthe end was to create a model,
um, using Popsicle sticks andpipe cleaners.
And then the other part of itwas a digital simulation where
they would put in differentshape structures of teeth and
um, kind of reconfigure theshape of the mouth and then
they'd put in what they think iseffective and then the computer
(09:11):
would say, oh, you're 98%successful or 70% successful.
And I remember at the end of itthe students were like, okay,
well when do we make the robots?
And I thought, well, we're justdoing the simulation or we're
just doing this model out ofPopsicle sticks, we're not
actually gonna make a robot.
And they just seemed sodisappointed.
And that's kind of how thewheels started turning my head
(09:33):
like, well what if they actuallycould make a robot?
The only thing stopping me is Idon't have the materials to do
it.
So, um, shortly after that unitwrapped up, coincidentally I saw
the email about this grantopportunity that was being
offered through the OrangeCounty Council for Gifted
Education.
And they said If you have aproject that you wanna get
funded that would promote gatestrategies within the classroom,
(09:55):
then you can submit thisproposal.
So that's how the ball gotrolling for that proposal.
And um, I researched differentrobotics kits and different
companies and I found one thatwas really user friendly for
third graders and not sodifficult for me to learn as
well.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You're a risk taker.
Like I'm already seeing this asI'm talking to you.
Is that just who you are or doyou have a network?
Like what keeps you taking theserisks?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I don't, I don't really consider a risk because
it's exciting for me.
Like I said, I don't know thatmuch about robotics, but the
idea of learning more and thenteaching that to my students is
exciting.
And you know, there was a littlebit of risk cuz I'm deviating a
little bit from the curriculumfrom the standard lesson.
But to me, the reward of havingthose kids feel like they
accomplished something and theway that they can take ownership
(10:41):
of it and go in so manydifferent directions and on top
of that, develop coding skillsand computer science skills and
robotic skills, to me it wasjust like I cannot take that
away from them.
That's such an opportunity thatif I have the means to do it, I
have to just take it and runwith it.
So I think just being inspiredby the potential outcomes of
(11:02):
what could happen is what mademe take that risk.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Did you just kind of create this from scratch?
Did you work with a team ofpeople?
How did you come to the pointwhere you were ready to present
this for the grant?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Um, pretty much from a scratch.
Like I said, the Amplify Unit,it does teach them about
robotics that were inspired bynature.
So some of the materials thatthey read, and there's some
videos that show really greatexamples.
There's like a robotic arm thatwas inspired by an elephant
trunk.
There's a book that shows whatthis field is biomimicry
engineer.
(11:32):
They actually show like whatthey do in that field.
And I thought this is a perfectway to apply it because the less
the curriculum's already prettymuch set it up for me now I just
have to add this one finalcomponent to it.
And essentially it becomesproject based learning at that
point because they're takingtheir knowledge and their skills
that they've learned up to thatpoint.
Um, even the unit that we'redoing doing right now is
(11:54):
building up to it.
So it's kind of that final,instead of giving them a test at
the end and saying, okay, tellme what you learned about
inheritance and traits andenvironments.
They can actually take thatknowledge and apply it to, um,
an innovation or creation thatcomes out of their own, their
own mind, which is so much morepowerful.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Do they, do they connect to any other learning
goals as they're doing theseprojects?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Well I think first and foremost it, the 21st
century skills that we, from dayone I tell, tell them, you know,
the four Cs, collaboration,creativity, communication, and
critical thinking.
Um, all of those are woven inthrough this lesson.
From the beginning we talkedabout the whole engineering
design process.
So from the beginning they startwith a question and oftentimes
(12:39):
that actually can be the hardestfor them to think about what's a
scientific question or a problemthat I wanna solve.
If they're passionate aboutmaybe a sport or the environment
or something within theirschool.
And I go, there it is, okay,that's the problem.
How can you design somethinginspired by nature to solve that
problem?
And then from there they go intothe planning and the designing
(13:00):
and the testing and then theimproving.
So going through thatengineering design process, um,
I think is what really makesthem feel like they are the
engineer going through this.
And they can make mistakes.
They can take risks.
Um, a lot of my students I foundare afraid to take risks.
They wanna make sure theysucceed and they need that
(13:20):
challenge to know that if theydo fail, that's okay, we can
just revisit this, we can testit, we can look at it in a
different way.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
You maybe wonder about how, how do you assess
something like this?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Um, I think that's where all those stages along the
way are important because I, Iwanna make sure that they have a
plan and that it's based on theknowledge that they've gained in
the unit.
Um, I think one of the otherthings about project based
learning is the, the finalproduct of how they demonstrate
their mastery.
And in my classroom I oftentimesgive them a choice of how
(13:53):
they're gonna present that tome.
So maybe they're going to writeit out like an essay.
Maybe they're gonna create aGoogle slide, maybe they're
gonna make a video, maybethey're going to, obviously in
this part they will have themodel, but they'll have to have
some way to explain it to me.
And I think giving them thatchoice gives them, um, the
opportunity to show it in theway that's meaningful to
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Them.
And are you using like a rubricwhen you're grading these, these
assignments?
Or how do you actually grade it?
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yes.
So we have a rubric that'sprovided to us for the written
component that all the studentswill do at the end.
Mm-hmm.
they've applied that to theproject.
Mm-hmm.
So even the verbiage wouldn'treally need to change.
I think it's still importantthat the students are able to
demonstrate this in written formand so all of them will still
complete that written component,but to also give them the
(14:43):
opportunity to show that in likethe modality of their choice, I
think is really important too.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right.
And you have some students thatfeel much more comfortable being
able to, able to present orallyversus Exactly.
Versus writing versus maybedoing a video.
I, I mean we see that in middleschool and, and in high school
too.
Students show their knowledge ortheir understanding of a topic
depending on the medium indifferent ways and some better
than others.
Some uh, may find that they cancommunicate it a lot better
orally, but when Penn goes topaper or fingers go to keyboard,
(15:09):
you might grade it completelydifferent cuz you're not,
they're not able to transferwhat's in their mind into
writing and the way you're doingit and giving that student
choice, they probably have somuch more buy-in I'd imagine
because they got to pick whatthey get to do.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
You, you said something earlier and I wanna
come back to it.
So you mentioned GA and this isGATE is not something that I, I
hear a lot in my world, but itwas something I heard a lot when
I was in school.
There were kind of all of theseperceptions and ideas about gate
mm-hmm.
Right.
What is GATE and what is it likebeing a GATE teacher?
What are their misconceptions if, if any, that you might have
(15:45):
heard or come across?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Um, well, so GATE stands for Gifted and Talented
Education and, um, first andforemost I think a misconception
is that we're just kind of doingwhatever we want.
We come up with our own lessonsand, and teach a totally
different curriculum, which is,is definitely a myth because we
start with the exact samestandards as any other third
(16:07):
grade class that you'd walkinto.
That's definitely like where westart.
But I think in addition to thestandards, we also implement
what are called GATE standards.
So they're depth, complexity,acceleration, and novelty.
And there's a lot of tools thatwe use in the classroom.
Different strategies.
You'll see things like theprompts of depth and complexity.
(16:27):
We'll use things like think likea disciplinarian, which I'm
doing think like a biomimicryengineer.
Um, but really all they are arejust thinking tools and
strategies to elevate studentsthinking and kind of go below
that surface level of thecontent to dive deeper.
Um, it also providesopportunities for acceleration.
(16:47):
So for example, with this, ourlast science unit, it was on
magnetic force and there was ahandful of students that just
grasped the concepts right awayand they're ready for something
else.
They're ready for more rigor,they need some challenge.
And so at that point I can kindof pull that group aside and
provide some differentiation forthem.
And I said, okay, well you, youunderstand the concept of
(17:10):
magnetic force balance forces,so now what I want you to do is
think about something thatyou're really passionate about
and how could you use magneticforce somewhere in that field
again to solve a problem,problem based learning and
present it to me.
So they create this, um, form,it's like a think like a
disciplinarian frame and one ofthem was think like a hockey
(17:32):
player and he's trying to thinkof, um, a way that he can
incorporate magnetic force.
Anyway, I could go on and on,but basically it's, it's
finding what these students'passions are.
And I do that with all mystudents.
And I should probably prefacethis by saying that even though
these are standards that Iimplement in my classroom
because it's a GATE classroom,these are practices and tools
(17:54):
that can be applied to anylearner mm-hmm.
And they really just enrich theeducation for all students.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
So your classroom is, is a mixed classroom.
There's GATE students and thengeneral Right.
Students, non gate, uh, studentsin the same class.
It's interesting because Iimagine GATE is kind of
scaffolding up to, to a higherlevel, but then mm-hmm.
I'm creating scaffolds for mystudents to, to support them who
may not be at a grade level,maybe in reading or literacy or
(18:23):
math, those same scaffolds canhelp all students.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
So yeah, I don't, I don't just go, okay, you're my
GATE students, I'm gonna usethese practices on you.
I use it for the whole class.
Um, but I'm also surprised byhaving that mix of these
different learning styles.
A lot of times students areinspired by other students or,
you know, we have this big thingabout one of the prompts is
multiple perspectives.
I try to do that as much as Ican because students are
(18:48):
inspired by the ideas of theirpeers.
And quite often, you know, ifthey hear it from a peer, it
could be exactly what I justsaid, but they heard their
students say it in a differentway and it just clicks and
they're like, wow, I get that.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I, and I think a lot of teachers struggle or, or
maybe feel ill-equipped tosupport higher level students.
Did you get trained to be, to bea GATE teacher first?
Lemme ask that question.
Did you get a special trainingfor this?
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yes.
I went through a course, I thinkit was like a six weeks, six
week certification coursethrough my
Speaker 2 (19:19):
District.
And Okay, so you, you got, yougot a special training, which
I've been in the classroom fornine years.
I teach at a university as anadjunct professor, but I've
never been trained on teachinggifted or accelerated students.
And I'm kind of wondering now,like, did it, you feel like it
made you a better teacher?
Absolutely.
And, and if so, how do I, how doI get to do this?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Well, it's through the county.
I mean, I, anybody can gettrained and certified how to
teach this way.
But, um, just like you said, Ithink coming out of that, my
eyes were just open.
And my biggest takeaway is thatthese practices, even though
they are designed for gifted andtalented, um, it really kind of
reshaped my thinking about how Inumber one present material to
(20:00):
the students.
That I'm doing it in an engagingway and I'm not just lecturing
at them.
There's opportunities for themto collaborate and communicate
and use multiple resources.
Um, so you know, how I'mteaching has changed.
Um, and then also how I'mproviding opportunities for them
to demonstrate their learning.
And a lot of that is projectbased learning because once they
(20:21):
have the knowledge and skillsthey want, they need to do
something with it.
I mean, that's really the truedefinition of innovation is
taking the skills or takingsomething that you've learned
and now go with it.
Run with it.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
How, uh, how can we take what you've learned and
then, and kind of spread it.
So teachers have this in theirtoolkit too.
Like for me, I have, uh, themultiple ways to be able to
support reading and literacy andmath and tools and sentence
frames.
Mm-hmm.
plans, I have a have a lot oftool sets for that.
I wanna build my tool sets forthis other area for my students
who want to continue, who wannarun or go beyond or even stretch
(20:53):
themselves.
I think we need to take some ofthe things that you're doing and
not make them kind of like thisexclusive group, but also let's,
let's share it with everyone cuzit's mm-hmm.
I
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Agree.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
We might, we might see a lot more potential or a
lot more opportunities forstudents who might not otherwise
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Have them.
And one thing, my school, I'mreally proud to say that my
principal has, has seen that.
You know, he's like, well whyare we just keeping this in the
gate classroom?
So he's working on getting allof our teachers certified.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
No, I love what you're doing and your principal
sounds, sounds awesome for doingthat and recognizing that this
can, this can benefit morestudents than just the ones who
mm-hmm.
it's called when I was taking,or whatever it is, you know,
whatever it is back then.
Exactly.
We've talked about project basedlearning, the Gate classroom.
I, I kind of wanna come back toyou and as, as we wrap up
thinking about like, the jobsthat you and I do and the people
(21:41):
that listen to this podcast, wehave one of the few jobs that
people remember us for alifetime.
And I wanna ask you, who, whowas someone that was maybe
inspirational in youreducational career that inspired
you or is maybe one of the mostmemorable?
You might have several mm-hmm.
to you in your career and why?
Why were they memorable to you?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah.
Well obviously when I wasyounger I was definitely
inspired by all my teachers.
The fact that I turned mybedroom into a classroom, I just
was just in awe of thisprofession.
Um, but I think one that reallyresonated with me was my junior
year in high school.
I was taking a newspaper classand the teacher was Mrs.
Kavanaugh and she really taughtus everything from writing the
(22:23):
articles to the editing, toputting the pages together.
And I remember in that class Iwas working on this program
called Cork Express.
I don't even know if it existsanymore, but I was just
fascinated with putting allthese pieces together that we'd
worked on for so long andgetting the articles, picking
the pictures, the illustrationsand the titles.
(22:44):
And I remember her looking at mesaying, you really enjoy this,
don't you?
And I said, yeah.
And she said, well, I have acomputer graphics elective class
that you should take next year.
And I thought, okay, I'd love todo this, this opportunity to
expand my knowledge and myskills.
So because of that, I took thecomputer graphics class the next
year and um, I just rememberthroughout the, the whole time,
(23:05):
she was just constantlyencouraging me and acknowledging
my skills and I find myselfdoing that as a teacher as well.
Um, and cuz that reallyresonated with me.
And it's funny, this summer Iwas going through some boxes of
some old stuff from high schooland I found this handout that I
had made because I remember mysenior year of high school, she
said, Janice, you know what?
You're doing such a great job.
(23:27):
Uh, we have these new incomingstudents coming into the
newspaper class and I'd love foryou to actually teach them how
to do this page Nation on thisco express program.
I want you to put somethingtogether and actually teach it
to them.
I thought, wow, she believes inme that much that she's gonna
let me teach this to theincoming students.
Um, but I think my takeaway fromthat was that she gave me the
(23:48):
opportunity to take those skillsand, and actually do something
with them to apply them rightaway.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Mrs.
Kavanaugh, miss Kavanaugh, shoutout to Miss Kavanaugh.
Uh, as you told that story, Iheard you as a teacher because
I'm hearing she's applying thesegate strategies in that
situation.
That's what that's what I heard.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
She personalized this learning.
She created a specializedopportunity, you presented to a
real audience that wasauthentic.
Mm-hmm.
rigor and this challenge and itmade a huge impact.
And it's, it's, it's justamazing to listen to you and
hear this come full circle andnow you're doing this with
little ones.
Uh, and I just wanna thank youfor your time on, uh, in doing
(24:30):
the interview, sharing yourstory with, uh, how you became a
teacher, your students, theprojects that you do.
And just like so many teachersgoing the extra mile for your
kids and bringing in thesereally important 21st century
skills gonna be so much betteroff for it.
And I know it makes my jobeasier when I get them in the
classroom, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah.
Well thank you for theopportunity.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
My pleasure.
Thanks so much for listening andwe wanna hear more about you and
the educators who inspire you.
You can nominate them as afuture guest on Science
Connections by emailingstem@amplify.com.
That's s t e m amplify.com.
And be sure to click subscribewherever you listen to podcasts
(25:13):
and join our Facebook groupScience Connections, the
Community.
Until next time.
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