Cherene Fillingim-Selk Introduces CRS at BPSF Luncheon
“There are many things to love about CRS, their breadth of knowledge and services, their professionalism, their eagerness to advance the cause of science education, but what I love most about CRS is that they make my extremely complex job a little easier.”
July 2014
CRS helps a teacher out in a pinch! The year that I was a more than a little surprised to find out that I would be teaching one section of 4th grade social studies along with my regular science load, I went to CRS to help me draw connections between Island of the Blue Dolphins and science. I asked CRS for help and help they did, providing me resources on the native animals and flora of the island, details and implications of the island’s tides and more. I got so much information that I wanted to teach Island of the Blue Dolphins all year.
CRS recruits local experts to teach great lessons! The BASIS lessons that CRS coordinates are fantastic. Science specialists from all areas of science come into classrooms and teach in-depth lessons in their areas of expertise that meet the goals of the science standards. As a teacher it is inspiring to see experts come into the classroom and share their passion with the students. My classes have been visited by the wind man, the digestion people, the fire scientist, the electricity van graaf guy, the phosphorescence folks…. and more. With every single lesson I have had the pleasure of watching the students get to learn from, see and meet people that work in the real worlds of science.
CRS ignites teacher interest with field trips! The teacher field trips that CRS puts on are fun, social, and educational. I have had the opportunity to go on several of these trips: to the Exploratorium, California Academy of Sciences, and the Oakland Museum. They are all excellent because you get to learn more about these local institutions while networking with colleagues from all over the Bay Area. The most memorable trip for me was to the Crucible in Oakland. The Crucible is not a place that you immediately think of as a science institution, however each of the demonstrations – in metallurgy, glass blowing, and welding were so well thought out and informative that I came away inspired and excited about the connections between art and science, connections that have led to collaboration with both the art specialist and the after-school art teachers at Cragmont resulting in the creation of some beautiful science-inspired artwork.
 |
|
Photo: (L to R) Cherene Fillingim-Selk, Elise Zolczynski, |
CRS is upping our game! This was my first year meeting the Science Super Star Challenge, which was all the more exciting because four other Cragmont teachers met the challenge. Going through the process of completing the Challenge tasks helped me focus on multi-disciplinary, student-centric science tasks and inspired me to reach out to all of my colleagues and offer my support as a resource for the others who were upping their game to meet the CRS requirements. At Cragmont alone that means that over 200 students have received well thought out, cross curricular, hands-on science instruction with CRS support. While reflecting with a 1st grade colleague on how to help more K-3 teachers reach the benchmark we came up with several ideas that we will put in place next year so that we can continue to improve not only the science content knowledge of our teachers but also to inspire, motivate and excite our youngest scientists. We can all be Science Super Stars thanks to Community Resources for Science.