I know I already posted a blog this week, but I am currently in our library watching Mrs. Wingerd, our wonderful librarian as she guides my students through research for their NASA papers. I've written about the NASA paper a million times before, but I am thinking today about how the collaboration I have had on this paper has changed over the years. I've worked with five different people (three English teachers and two librarians) on this project over the years.
One of the things that made me think about this was the instruction I was giving the kids about writing from a Biblical worldview (In case you didn't know, I teach in a Christian school). I was pointing out that this did not mean they had to include a specific Bible verse. The first time I partnered with an English teacher on this paper (when it was still about whether or not we should go to Mars), she insisted that they quote a verse in their writing. Since there is no verse specifically about space exploration, you can imagine the myriad of misinterpretations (bordering on heresy) I got from this requirement. There is a verse in Psalms, for example, that says "the earth belongs to man and the heavens belong to the Lord." Since 8th-grade students have little nuance, they said, "This means that we should not go to space." That is not, of course, remotely close to what David had in mind when he wrote these words because that would have been rather confusing to an ancient audience. When she left and I started partnering with a different teacher, I asked her if we could find a different way to ask kids to write from a Biblical worldview than insisting on a verse, and I have gotten much deeper and more interesting results.
A few years ago, the 8th-grade English teacher I conspired with suggested changing the paper from "Should NASA put a crew on Mars?" to "What should NASA prioritize spending its budget on." She said to me, "Ten years ago, the Mars paper made sense, but we're going to Mars. Now it's not an issue of if but when." She was right, and I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to change it if she had not made that point. It also resulted in MUCH more interesting papers. When it was the Mars paper, there were only two options - Yes and No - so I was reading the same basic paper over and over again. When I ask students what the top three priorities should be for NASA spending, they have a wide variety of thoughts. Many still making putting a crew on Mars one of their points, but others talk about cleaning up orbital debris, space telescopes, planetary probes, studying black holes, the DART program, returning to an American rocket for sending humans into space, etc. It's far deeper thinking and much nicer to grade."
One of my best collaborators on any project is our librarian, which is why we are here today. She has already talked to them about databases and resources other than Google. She has shown them how to sign up for an appointment with a writing mentor (high school students who are strong writers). She has created a pathfinder of links to good credible sources that are places to start. She has pulled some books for them. In a couple of weeks, she will come to my classroom and talk to them about parenthetical citations and works cited pages. She can do that in a way this science teacher can't, so it allows them to be trained in better work than if I were the only one showing them things.
I collaborate with Mrs. Wingerd on a number of things, from a speech my 8th graders do about elements to my physics students' 3D printed spinning tops. We are able to do more for our students as a result of this collaboration.
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