The great thing about my GPS is that it will live on beyond [SEF]. I am scheduled to present at the MAST conference, will put in an application for NSTA and will continue to work with the BSAC students around promoting and engaging others into the climate change curriculum project. Working on the GPS has allowed me the opportunity to find an avenue to engage in a project that is something I care deeply about, and enjoy working on. I have always been involved in activities and projects outside the classroom, whether it was summer or afterschool programs, but this is the first project I have complete control over and have leveraged this product into some successful opportunities. Tim Gay, Boston
In year 2, each Fellow creates, implements, and leads a professional development plan for the year. This Growth Plan System (GPS) requires each Fellow to take a deep dive in exhibiting teacher leadership and sets the stage for them becoming teacher leaders. These projects are much more diverse and driven by the Fellow.
In the final monthly meetings of Year 1, the discussion with the fellows begins about planning their individual GPS (Growth Plan System) that they will implement in the coming school year. In these initial stages, Fellows are given the framework of the GPS and asked to think about how the SEF Fellow can support district initiatives in his/her school and district while also defining personally important work, tied to improving science teaching, that the Fellow may not have an opportunity to do otherwise. In the final monthly meeting and at the Teacher Leadership Conference, Year 1 Fellows are asked to verbalize and share their preliminary GPS ideas through conversations with their colleagues, their DSCs (District Science Coordinators) and the SEF Leadership team so they can receive feedback and ideas to help their plan take shape.
Fellows are given the summer between year one and year two to form their ideas into a cohesive plan to deepen their own content knowledge, professional skills, and capacity to lead others. They will accomplish this by setting goals, meeting regularly with a SEF GPS Advisor, their District Science Coordinator and other Fellows and setting and meeting benchmarks towards their goals. Fellows put their plan in writing. They are asked to set at least two professional goals, one related to and aligned to district initiatives, and one personal. 125 out-of-school time hours should be devoted to SEF. Approximately 25 of the Fellows’ hours in year 2 are for call back Cohort meetings, meetings with advisor, and meetings with their district science coordinator and other district fellows, which leaves about 100 hours for their GPS.
| Grade | Individual goal | District goal |
|---|---|---|
K | To create a useable technology library for integration of science and technology in Kindergarten and Grade One. This will be a document created throughout the school year to provide staff with options in integrating technology with our new science curriculum. | To develop and implement a life science curriculum and usable space to aid in Early Childhood social and emotional growth via the science curriculum throughout the next school year. |
2 | To research teacher stress and the causes of teacher burnout. I will then create a handbook that includes indicators of teacher stress, plans for maintaining continued wellness, and strategies for dealing with acute attacks of stress in the moment. | I will create lab activities and supporting materials aligned with NGSS Practice #3: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations. |
HS | To use cartooning to create a 180Dayz teacher comic graphic novel that will help new teachers avoid common pitfalls, obtain necessary skills, knowledge, etc. to become a successful teacher and improve student learning within their first year of teaching. | To realign current BPS Physics curriculum with new state science standards (what resources can we use, what needs to be shifted across grades or subjects, is there new content required that we do not have the materials for teaching and need to obtain, etc.) |
MS | To foster Scientific Self-guided Journeys through the Art of Questioning the World Around You | With the incoming standards, several changes will need to be made to our current district curriculum. Together with my other district cohort, we will work on creating a cohesive unit to teach one of the strands of the new 8th grade standards. |
HS | To use research to guide the creation of HW and track completion and content retention (as measured on quizzes). Since we are on a semester system, the first semester will be research and preliminary implementation. The second semester will be edits based on data in the fall semester, as well as gather more data to see if results are consistent with a new group of students. | To use the SEP to increase scientific analysis skills in students with lower academic fluency, and allow “stretches” for the more advanced students. Wants to focus on Analyzing and Interpreting data, Constructing Explanations, and Engaging in argument from evidence. |
