Edutopia - April/May 2008 - (Page 43)

oSakhalin Finnie Engineering the success of struggling students akhalin Finnie is proud of her ninthgrade science students at the Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, in Wilmington, California, and who could blame her? Last year, the group won ⇒rst place in the local district for the Integrated Coordinated Science (ICS) competition. Finnie’s students are no doubt proud of her, too: In 2007, Finnie received the $25,000 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award for her exemplary teaching work. You could ask her about the honor, but you may not get anywhere. True to form, Finnie is much more interested in talking about her students. The ⇒rst-place prize in the district’s ICS Earth Science Challenge, Finnie explains, was the result of a classroom project: “We have ten weeks of earth science, and at the end of those ten weeks the students do a project that covers the whole ten weeks, during which we study earthquakes, volcanoes, and plate tectonics.” Finnie’s students designed an emergency plan for the home, and an emergency kit. They also created a newspaper, complete with illustrations, that “tells someone who doesn’t know anything about earth science all about earthquakes, volcanoes, and plate tectonics, how they’re all related, and why we have earth- S quakes.” In addition, the students videotaped a ⇒ve-minute earthquake-safety commercial in the form of a rap song, and victory was theirs. Clearly, Finnie has a knack for inspiration. How does she do it? “It’s a projectcentered, student-centered class,” she says. “We do as many lab and hands-on activities as possible. They must interact with their lab project, but they also have to talk to each other, and they first have to write what they think. It’s called ‘think-care-share.’ Students learn it is much more fun to study science if you can do the lab.” Finnie should know. She was a hands-on chemical engineer before she switched careers in 1999 to become a teacher. She’s been tutoring since junior high school. “I taught people how to build computers, how to run computers, how to use the software, and I also have tutored kids in math and science,” she says. “It was a natural transition for me to switch to teaching.” She admits the change wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be, but the challenge has apparently agreed with her. She’s improved her students’ academic performance, and helped one group raise its reading scores by 10 percent. “In the Los Angeles Uni⇒ed School Dis- trict, most students coming into ninth grade do not read at grade level,” Finnie says. “This year, the kids are pretty good, but I’ve had kids that read at third- and fourth-grade level.” To assess her students with low comprehension levels, Finnie has her own approach. “We take one page with three paragraphs, and I have them underline the vocabulary words, tell me what the meaning is,” she says. “They write it out, then they discuss each paragraph and draw a picture that represents what it means. They don’t have to have drawing skills; I draw stick ⇒gures. If they can give me a picture of the words, then I know they understand. “I also have them talk to each other more than they talk to me, because talking to me can be intimidating,” Finnie explains. “Asking each other for help works better and makes life a lot easier. Talking to them, and letting them talk to each other, works well in raising their reading-comprehension test scores. Ultimately, my goal is for them to be able to learn and teach themselves on their own. I want them to be independent learners.” Edutopia is not the ⇒rst to acknowledge Finnie’s hard work. In addition to the Milken award, which credited her with inspiring “dozens of talented young people to enter the teaching profession,” NASA chose her to participate in its Minority University Math, Science, and Technology Award for Teacher Education Program (MASTAP). Somehow, she also ⇒nds time to lead the school’s Future Teacher Club and act as its representative for United Teachers Los Angeles. And what does Finnie tell her students about the rewards and challenges of teaching? “I tell them you must be able to laugh,” she says. “The best thing about teaching is when, at the start of the year, someone walks in and they hate science, or they can’t read the book, and at the end of the year, you see their eyes light up and they say, “‘Ms. Finnie, I got it, I got it!’” “I also tell them that teaching is worth it to me for the successes that I have, and the fun,” she continues. “I really have fun at my job. I tell them I didn’t always have fun in engineering. I liked it, but I didn’t always have fun with it. I tell them that teaching turned out to be harder than I thought. It’s de⇒nitely not an easy job, but it’s worth it.” EDUTOPIA.ORG EDUTOPIA 43 http://EDUTOPIA.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - April 2008

Edutopia - April 2008 Contents Up Front Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of the Class Cool Schools Design Reinventing the Big test The Daring Dozen Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jack Prelutsky

Edutopia - April 2008

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