Success Is the Tip of the Iceberg

This sketchnote from Sylvia Duckworth illustrates a lesson that a lot of gifted middle school students are in the process of learning. For some, it is THE most important lesson they will learn in middle school. 

Some thoughts about success:

• At times, students who are new to Seabury Middle School express shock or surprise when they are not initially successful. 
• Success is not always easy.
• It can be easy at times. It can also take a lot of work. One type of success is not "worth" more than the other type.
• The end goal might look different to different people at different times.
• Being in a moment of failure, does not mean that a learner is at the end of their journey. It means they're on the path of learning. 
• Students learn through a process of action, reflection and feedback, and then re-attempting that action. Their writing, thinking, reading, and discussion skills all improve in this way.

Students who struggles a lot the first time they complete a particular type of assignment, like writing a thesis statement or doing a close reading chart, might find that the next time they try that same skill, it is easier. The feelings of disappointment and the appearance of failure at that one moment of time, coupled with dedication and hard work, pave the way for later success. As middle school teachers, we know that learning is a journey and that the set-backs and how students react to them are important moments on that journey.

Now, at the end of the school year, when students come to many summative assessments, many of them are also seeing the fruits of their hard work and past struggles. In the past few weeks, I have had many students do something in a way they could not have imagined doing it six months ago. They are impressing themselves. 

They are also starting new journeys, beginning next steps to new goals.

During distance learning, we have been able to see some of those process more closely than in an in-person classroom, and during in-person learning we are able to see some of them more clearly. In both cases, we are prioritizing helping students set goals, know where they are going, and helping them accurately assess where they are on the journey. 

Astronomy is a Great Distance Learning Subject

Seabury has an inquiry based science program. Inquiry is an investigative approach to teaching and learning. Students at Seabury get to explore solutions and develop explanations to phenomena they observe or learn about. This is much the same as what scientists do in the real world. They ask observe a phenomena, ask questions, and investigate. As they obtain new information their ideas and understanding change. Inquiry often begins with a counter intuitive or unexpected event. 

Astronomers investigate the universe using mathematics and electromagnetic radiation such as light, microwaves, and x-rays. Seabury students were presented with three interesting ways light interacts with with objects on earth to create images. One was its reflection on a spoon. The concave bowl of the spoon reflects a different image that the convex back of the spoon. Why? Students were asked to come up with their own question about the phenomena, this lead to ideas about why things appear smaller or larger at different distances. Students also investigated mirrors an infinite loops of reflections. Lastly the students constructed their own refracting telescopes which magnify far away objects. Many connections can be drawn between the way light acts in these situations. 

Seabury is also about hands-on and being there (actually experiencing things). In Astronomy class students have been taking stargazing challenges, trying to locate different constellations and witness events. Some students woke up at the crack of dawn to see an arch of planets or stayed up late to see the sunset. We will be using our new telescopes to focus in on planets and the moon. To document this students are creating their own web-pages using Padlet.   

Astronomy often occurs at night so this distance learning gives us an opportunity to bend our regular schedules and do some nighttime investigations. 

Color shift in infinite reflections