There’s been a lot of activity in the social media sites about the relevance of professional development. Some of the best PD I had came from working informally with special education teachers. I had students with special needs in my classes and my colleagues helped me come to the same conclusions as the SS Editor: [...]
For the past few years, the March issue of The Science Teacher has been devoted to this theme. As our classrooms become more diverse, we need ideas and research to help us share our passion for science with all of our students. In this issue, as I read Teaching Science to ELLs, Part 1 and [...]
The United States has long been called a “melting pot,” a place where diverse people mixing and mingling. Learning the dominate language is a challenging part of the process, particularly when a student is trying to learn a new language and expand their content knowledge. Okhee Lee and Cory Buxton shared their views on teaching [...]
My next-door neighbor is a lovely young woman, currently at the top of her junior class and gathering information on colleges. She’s interested in studying chemistry/chemical engineering (hooray!). I was reflecting on the opportunities she has that did not exist years ago when I was in her situation. Many colleges with strong science/engineering programs were [...]
Reading this issue’s articles on English Language Learners (ELLs) — Challenges and Solutions for ELLs and Making the Connection — brought back memories of many students in my classes, but especially of Philippe, who moved to my town from Haiti. Philippe spoke a little English, but no one in our school spoke French or Haitian [...]
