[Sagamore Volunteer] Survey

[Dave Allen Barker Jr]

I appreciate your reaching out to me.  I don't feel I'm as plugged into
the school as you suggest, but I'll ramble on a bit for you. ☺

Regarding STEM… When I first heard about it I was skeptical, thinking it
was just the new buzzword to market the school with.  Having now learned
about the major pushes into the classrooms, by attending the first
couple STEM meetings the teachers have monthly with Ms. Miller after
school, I'm more upbeat about the STEM effort.  I like the idea of
emphasizing process in addition to traditional knowledge acquisition. 
Since it's so increasingly easy to find answers (online), I think the
STEM design process being exercised in classrooms can be a great way to
improve student skills that will really pay off down the road.  I like
that the STEM design process emphasizes that designing is fun, but only
the beginning, that failure is a normal part of getting things done,
that you'll be spending a lot of time reiterating on a solution and that
is not wasting time, that these things are hard and perseverance is
essential.  I don't think the school is there yet; I see a lot of "art
projects", one off "designs" that are celebrated for existing, but
haven't really challenged the students to create things they hadn't
imagined to begin with.  Okay, I'm getting off the PTA track and onto
the administration/teacher side that I don't have any influence over…

I'm really not familiar with all that the PTA is doing related to the
STEM push.

I have volunteered a couple times for the (K-2) STEM Club (I don't think
PTA), and my take is there is a lot of going through the motions.  With
the student/mentor ratio they have, I'm not sure much learning is going
on.  For kids who are already "get" the STEM design process, there's the
possibility of growth through exercise, but for many (most?), I don't
know how much learning is happening.  For many, I really think they need
one-on-one, look them in the eye, don't let them be lazy, see if you can
get them on board, mentoring would need to happen; otherwise, they're
just having craft time.

Science night I know is PTA.  I've always worried it's too much of a
carnival, more entertainment that inspiring.  I love that it happens at
all though, the wider community participation, the whole school coming
together, the parent involvement.  I just think it would be fun if the
kids had to walk away with a little more knowledge too.  There's an
email I can dig up I sent a couple years ago speaking to it.  I don't
mean to get grumpy about science night—I love science, have volunteered
to do demonstrations, am totally impressed with what the community puts
together, and don't know exactly how to improve it in the way I'd like—I
just don't want to let go of the feeling that we should work to keep our
eye on the ball, that we put on Science Night not to just for the oohs,
ahs, and giggles, but to really help kids see the world around them in a
new way (that will also make standardized test answers more intuitive).

Egg drop is another one I can get grumpy on.  Maybe it's just because
I'm only hanging out with the younger grades, but I worry about the lack
of depth in the investigations.  I've gotten the impression there is no
discussion of what might be going on with their designs, no discussion
of forces or energy or structure, that might help the kids make educated
guesses and not just a random walk through possibilities (or more
commonly, just repeat what other kids are doing).

As you can see, I like to think kids can "get" a lot more if we just
expose them to it.  Do it to them young while they're sponges.  Then
when they're older and doing the rigorous learning, it will all seem
familiar.  I like to imaging, especially at a STEM school, exposing kids
to real modern science, not the simplified models of 25 years ago (we've
come a long way!).  Okay, I'm getting off track again…

I also don't have a good sense of the motivations of the volunteers.  I
imagine many volunteer for the kinds of efforts they themselves enjoy. 
If that's the case, people aren't interchangeable resources that can be
allocated where ever need be—canceling one effort doesn't mean you've
freed those volunteers to work on another effort (they might not want to
do the other effort).

Okay, let me think of thinks that I imagine are valuable, that really
serve the kids and give them a leg up.

  * Math mornings (tutoring)
  * Science Night (potentially)
  * More special interest clubs: Coding, Garden?, STEM (possibility),
    Girls on the Run, …

Things that aren't very impactful educationally for our kids…

  * Wonderful Wednesday, I just don't know the teacher sentiment well
    enough.  Does it reinvigorate them?  Is there a noticeable classroom
    enthusiasm following those Wednesdays?  Are good teachers choosing
    not to leave the school because they're reminding of the extra love
    we have for them trough our offering of food?  I don't know.  It
    does seem to be a stressor on parents though.
  * AR/Reading Carnival.  The incentives seem all wrong to really move
    the peg on reading activity in the school (what I understand its
    intention is).  Kids' parents save some bucks if they choose to if
    the kid reads enough?  Too abstract.  I can't imagine any kid
    reading more because they're thinking about an event at the end of
    the year that they probably participate in regardless of their
    reading choices.

I don't know.

Another opportunity I've wondered about is getting kids involved with
some of these things.  Having them (not exclusively of course), doing
things like making posters for an event, or running the school store, or
collecting media and designing the yearbook, or soliciting the community
for something.  I know, that stuff is volunteer burdensome, but I think
there's a lot of educations to be had from some students there.  We'll
see if I can apply the idea with my own kids (I hear the work load get
pretty significant for older students).

To be done for now, I think some things to keep in mind are that we're
here to help our children.  Every time we're taking on tasks for the
school, we should be thinking about how it actually changes students'
school experience.  Sometimes I wonder if parents did nothing but simply
assist in the classroom, if that would be volunteer energy best spent.

Sorry I'm just rambling off topic here, I think maybe a conversation
sometime would be better.  Maybe that's happening at the Board
meetings.  I'm sorry to have been missing the last few.

Thank you for stepping up to be PTA president—I like what I'm seeing! ☺


On 12/03/2014 06:36 AM, Kristie McMahan wrote:
> Hi Dave,
>  
> I want to put together a survey to send to all parents and teachers to
> get input/feedback as to how we should dedicate our
> resources/volunteers in the 2015-2016 school year. With so much
> emphasis being placed on the STEM certification, my gut tells me that
> we need to shift our budget next year to allocate more resources and
> money towards supporting the program, which means we will need to
> eliminate some other programs.
>  
> Since you are so involved with the school and STEM program, I really
> would like to get your opinion as to which programs you feel are the
> most beneficial to the Sagamore students and teachers and which ones
> may be able to be cut back or eliminated. I don't expect for you to
> spend more than 5 minutes on this. Just off the top of your head, what
> are your thoughts? This will help me develop the survey.
>  
> If you don't have time, I certainly understand, but I value your
> input/thoughts/suggestions as I hope to suggest some changes that will
> better utilize the resources of the PTA to benefit our children.
>  
> Thanks Dave!
>  
> Kristie
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