Guest post: NYSSLS Transitions, by Jennifer Borowicz

A quick note from the 3D Cafe...

We've got a great post from guest blogger Jennifer Borowicz, a teacher that we've collaborated with several times in the past few years. Jennifer has some great thoughts and questions for us all about the NYSSLS transition. We'd love to have you post a comment or send her a direct email (jborowicz@wscschools.org) to share your reflections on how this works (or doesn't!) in your classroom. Thanks!! --Sarah and Cookie

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As a guest posting on the North Country 3D Science Café Blog I’m excited to have this opportunity to reach out to others who are incorporating 3D teaching into their classrooms as we transition to NYSSLS.  My name is Jennifer Borowicz and I teach various levels of Living Environment in a suburb of Buffalo.  

In trying to make more strides in transitioning to 3D teaching in my classroom I’m finding that I struggle with how to fully intertwine the science and engineering practices, the cross cutting concepts and the disciplinary core ideas.  At this stage I might be able to incorporate a science and engineering practice, but can’t seem to cohesively structure lessons to have students performing multiple practices to uncover the content for themselves. To try and climb over that stumbling block I have reached for the NYSSLS document for footholds along the way.  However, I’ve found that in trying to firmly plant my feet in those footholds I face larger questions that make the footholds slippery for me. Seeing as my footholds are currently slippery I’m looking to others for support to provide the harness to keep me climbing towards 3D teaching and not falling back down to the ground.  I’m wondering what others might have to offer regarding the following questions. 

1. How are you bridging the transition from our current standards to NYSSLS?  When I go to the NYSSLS document for support and guidance I sometimes find that content I have been teaching may no longer be at the high school level or the focus on the content might be slightly different in the connections the students are expected to make. This is contributing to my struggle in how to build and incorporate 3D lessons and I’m wondering how others are handling this situation.
2. How are you approaching content that you are accustomed to teaching that may now only be directly a DCI at a lower level?  This too is disrupting my thinking. I cannot currently omit testable content and even in the future some of that content would seem to require a place in my lessons for full understanding of the NYSSLS DCIs or simply to refresh prior content knowledge to build knowledge at the high school level.  I’m not sure how to approach transitioning with content changes.
3. How do you work towards incorporating multiple practices throughout a cohesive set of lessons?  I seem to incorporate one practice but then get stuck in how to plan lessons around multiple practices.  So, I have lessons with a practice injected in a place I seem to be able to make it fit. But, then I revert to providing students information.  I don’t have cohesive lessons with multiple practices. I have more traditional lessons with a practice inserted somewhere and I am hanging out in that spot on my climb.  I’m interested in how others have made it past that point.

I have high hopes for what can happen in my classroom and what my students are capable of doing as young scientists in my classroom.  I just need to keep climbing until I can get to a point to provide them the opportunities to be those young scientists in my classroom and I appreciate the support of others as I make that climb.  If you would like to reach me directly my email is jborowicz@wscschools.org.  Thanks for reading and any thoughts you may have as I hang on and keep climbing.