I haven’t made many asks of readers on this site. I don’t sell merch, or ask anyone to join a Patreon to support the site, or to “click on the associate link below”, etc. I just try to offer the occasional STEM education content that might be helpful to STEM education leaders and teachers. And over the years (yes, I’ve been writing this blog for almost 15 years) this site has led the occasional person to hire me for a gig such as leading a session of professional development or writing some science assessments. Some of those connections have turned into long-term professional relationships and some are just brief jobs.

This summer I was originally planning to teach a college course and that has fallen through so I’m excited to share that I have some availability in my summer schedule between July and September. Here are examples of summer support I’ve provided in K-12 STEM education for school districts and informal science providers in the past:

• Designing and facilitating face-to-face or online STEM professional development
• Delivering engaging keynotes at events
• Creating and facilitating online book studies
• Building online asynchronous STEM professional development for use during the upcoming school year
• Writing- creating assessments, curriculum guides, revising and reviewing existing support documents, etc
• Coordinating grant-funded projects
• Providing planning and support for developing long range STEM education plans

Here are examples of feedback from teachers who attended a recent online professional development session on supporting student talk in science:

• Student talk is a much more valuable tool than I originally gave it credit for. I have more tools to create spaces that support and encourage academic and productive talk, but I also appreciate the many times the course mentioned starting talk where students are at. If I can use those conversational moments to organically help students dig deeper into their learning they will be more engaged and take in much more than they might have from just answering questions I give them.
• Discourse and writing, prompted by observation and investigation of scientific phenomena, help all students organize their thinking and consolidate their learning in long-term memory (background knowledge), and especially provide greater equity for MLLs.
• Set students up for success by teaching students explicitly how to listening and participate in meaningful discussions. Talk moves!
• I found looking at the examples of student work -examining what they did well, what they can improve on- was very helpful

Click HERE if you would like to connect and chat. Thanks. I hope everyone has a great summer.