Back to School Night

Thursday night we had our back to school night. I was nervous, but, when I get nervous I tend to be overly enthusiastic. Not ditzy, but I go into saleswoman mode. (Perhaps it is a flashback from my Enterprise Rent-a-Car days.)

We were on a bell schedule and I had over 60 parents attend. Most of them were parents of 6th graders, but I was glad to see them nonetheless.

I had a PowerPoint looping in the background from a Lego League Presentation I attended the weekend prior. In the PowerPoint I included some very interesting findings from a study by the National Academy of Engineering. Aside from the fact that kids overwhelmingly know nothing about STEM education, this study further emphasized that we need to change the way we talk to our kids about engineering.


The NAE recommends that parents and teachers should:

•Stop reinforcing the images of “nerdy and boring”

•Stop focusing on math & science as the needed inputs and instead focus on:

•Outputs

•Career opportunities

•Making a difference in the world

•Use the word create, not build

I thought their findings were fascinating. Up until about three years ago, I always thought of engineers as nerds who sat behind a desk all day. I thought if you wanted to be an engineer you had to excel at math and science. I didn’t think I would ever be an engineer.

Now, I am the STEM/Technology lady. I have been able to go to some awesome STEM trainings and while I am nowhere near an expert, it is a new passion of mine.

The parents were excited about my presentation and I had several who came up to me afterwards and told me that my class is their child’s favorite.

I think the kids like learning about “stuff” they have always wondered about. They get to use computers and work on projects, they get to build...er, create "stuff", program robots, and learn about different STEM careers.

On Friday I had to smile when class was dismissed and I overheard one boy ask another boy, “so what are you going to do when you grow up?”