Speaker: Anna Scott
Tell us about yourself! Include education, classroom experience, and anything else you want to share. What classes and grades do you teach?
Anna Scott: Hi, I'm anna scott. I am the science department chair in the upper school at Athens Academy, which is an independent school in Athens Georgia. And I went to college. I have my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Barry college and then I have to graduate degrees from the University of Georgia. I've been teaching high School since 1999. I've been at Athens Academy for 16 years and I also am a part time assistant professor at the University of Georgia, where I teach classes in the Department of Math, science and social studies education. But I teach the science education classes in terms of what I teach in high. I have taught anatomy and physiology, I've taught biology. I've also taught a class called Science Technology and Society, which is an honorable level elective here. Very early in my career. I even taught physical science and principles of technology, but by and large most of my day is spent teaching biology.
Tell us about your students! What challenges do your students face? What special populations do you serve (ex. ELL, Special Education, etc)?
Anna Scott: My students are wonderful, they are usually a little nervous about engaging in science there on level. Um if I'm teaching them at least the ninth grade biology for example, meaning they're not in an honors section of the class, and so typically they either believe they are not very good at science or at least not as good as science as some of their peers, or they actually, you know, think they don't even, they don't even like it. So one of the challenges that my kids face in um in science is just that overcoming a lack of confidence and then, you know, I'm always trying to get them to be a little more interested and understand the relevance of science. I would also say that um typically in biology, students really struggle with concepts being really big concepts. Like, so when we talk about things like energy flow in an ecosystem that's almost too big to wrap their head around our big problems like climate change too big to wrap their head around. Um and similarly, when we talk about molecular processes like photosynthesis or cellular respiration or DNA replication, it's um they struggle to make that abstract, teeny tiny thing kind of concrete and understandable for them.
Where do you currently teach? What are the student population and makeup of your school? (e.g., Private, Public, Charter, Magnet, Title I)
Anna Scott: Athens Academy is an independent school that means independent of state and of religion. In Athens Georgia, we have under 1000 students in K three through 12, and um I work in the high school and the students in the grades there um number around 80 in each grade. So we have about 320 kids in ninth through 12th grade. Our school is um private, and so it is tuition based that we have a very robust financial aid program. And so we have um students here and families here who benefit from our financial aid awards.
How did you first hear about Collab Crew and what made you want to join? Be specific please! Did you have reservations about joining?
Anna Scott: I actually heard about collab crew kind of after asking to be involved with the stem cases through explore learning. So gizmos or explore learning I guess purchased a company that was birthed in Athens, I'm called cogent Education. I think that was the name of the company that might have been their parent company, might have had a different acronym or something. But in any case in Athens, I was actually a teacher that was consulted by the original developers of the stem cases and so it was really cool for me. It was some of the best professional development I've ever been a part of to sit in a room and have scientists and um, you know, technology people figure out how to take really tough to teach concepts and make them accessible and scaffold them appropriately and then situate them in the context of a real life story. I loved being a part of that process when they were very first making the cases and that was before explorer learning purchased them. So once stem cases went under the explore, we're learning umbrella. I, to be fair, had not really used gizmos um, much I had heard of it, but I had not really ever felt the need to go there. And so now I had to go there to get my beloved some cases and I just did a survey at one point that you guys sent out after, maybe it came in the email that was like, hey, would you be interested in being a part of our collab crew And I said yes and that I had actually um been in on some of those development of the early cases. I didn't do any development, but they would ask me in the sense, you know, anna, what do you think this is or what do you think it's hard to teach or how do you think the students will receive this? And I just really enjoyed being a part of that process because I think the stem cases are an awesome product and really one of the few times we can say technology is a part of learning and not just something that flashy is beside the learning. So I'm a huge fan, but that's anyway, that's how I ended up on the collab crew. I just really missed being a part of it when it was down the street and we would have these, you know, actually in person meetings. But it was really cool when I found out that you guys have a collab crew and that you are also consulting teachers as you're developing products
Describe the way(s) you participated in Collab Crew. Are there any specific contributions you’d like to share?
Anna Scott: I'm participating in collab crew right now. Mostly I'm looking at proposals for the new stem cases where explore learning will send me the standards the N. G. S. S. For the specific topic and sort of like a very early outline of uh of a new stem case and then um I've just been doing it long enough now that I have since gotten to see kind of or I'm about to get to see a draft of one of the case that I had the earliest um input on and then in that draft and I've seen another draft to that I just get to see like the storyboard almost. So like I'm getting to provide input on some things that the students see in terms of what's on the screen and how are we prompting them and how are the answer's gonna be received and how will we be able to evaluate them? So I'm basically kind of weighing in on cases when they're at various stages of development.
What is your overall impression of Collab Crew? Did it accomplish what you hoped when you started? Was there anything that surprised you?
Anna Scott: I love collab group because it's really like very flexible, very rewarding professional development. I know that sounds crazy because I'm supposed to be doing the company a favor about previewing their products, but in the example of the stem cases, I'm actually learning about a real life situation or context that we're gonna be providing the students and then I'm learning about how the science content applies in those particular contexts and oftentimes they're not ones that I have ever thought of before. So I'm kind of going down this tunnel of learning content, which is so fun. Um, right when I'm so used to teaching, you know, content all the time and then the format is, I mean I kind of miss being in person, but the format for these is so great because it's so flexible and I have been given like a plethora of possible times to schedule our meetings and so I'm always able to sign up when it's most convenient for me and the meetings are run in a very organized, very timely fashion. They're super nice to me and I feel very appreciated when we end our call. So I feel like I'm doing something great for the world of science education. I feel like I'm helping explore learning keep um, the stem cases amazing which they are. And then also I feel like I'm learning a ton, so it's a total win win win win win
How does Collab Crew support you as an educator and support student success? How does Collab Crew fit into your classroom strategy?
Anna Scott: Collab crew supports me as an educator by asking for my input on the products that are being developed. I think that's amazing. I think so many times innovations are sort of pushed down our throats as teachers when actually it hasn't been informed by a classroom educator who understands what will work and not work in an actual classroom setting. So I think that it's amazing that collab Crew gives us the opportunity to provide input to the products that we ultimately would be selecting to use with our students.
Discuss the time commitment for Collab Crew. Has it been reasonable when paired with your classroom responsibilities?
Anna Scott: Mhm. The time commitment has been awesome because number one, I wouldn't have agreed to participate in it, and if I didn't want to um the meetings that I've been to are always, they start on time, they end on time, they're very well organized and very well run. So I feel like things are done very efficiently and I'm giving a lot of flexibility in terms of when I sign up for the meetings, which is amazing. Um Once or twice I've been able to do it actually during school hours when I was in a planning time, that was not co opted for something else, like a duty. Um But sometimes I've done them um on days when I have not been in school, for whatever reason, it might have been the day of the holiday or something like that. And I did one of the meetings, which was awesome, so it's just been really flexible and I feel like my time is very respected once I'm engaged in the process. Also we get the materials like I get the material to review ahead of time, which also helps us sort of stay on pace, very great job running efficient meetings
Have you participated in other programs similar to Collab Crew? If yes, please give some comparisons.
Anna Scott: I have participated in similar programs, but really not in an apples to apples situation, never in a company or for a company as large as export learning. I mentioned in one of my previous answers that when these stem cases were first in development, they were sort of birth at the university of Georgia and um, the school where I work is in the backyard of the university and I'm also part time assistant, um, professor over at the university of Georgia and so I was very fortunate to be geographically close to the group and we did have those um, sort of meetings and they would bring a group of us in teachers and they would ask us to look at various stages of the cases and we got to weigh in on everything from what topics needed to be sort of helped out with the case study too. Um, here's a case that's almost finished. What do you guys think about it? But it was always in person and it was a little more organic. So I really enjoyed the energy and I felt like it was awesome professional development and they were all great people but I really have appreciated that with collab crew, what we're doing is um, it still feels very authentic and like you guys are really asking for my input, but it also seems very, and like my time is respected and you guys really make it clear to me that you value my contribution and that you value my time. So overall this is definitely a little more polished in terms of comparing it to the last one that I worked with. But I just I almost don't even think it's you know that you can really compare them. It's not really apples to apples because the product was in its infancy back then and now it is not. It is awesome and thank heaven more and more cases are being developed.
Tell us anything: Feel free to elaborate on any part of the Collab Crew program.
Anna Scott: Thanks so much for asking me to weigh in on my experience as a collab crew member. I really love it. I also appreciate the flexibility and how I could respond. I just feel sort of typed to death. So part of me thought, oh well, you know, it would be the easiest to make it polished and everything if I typed my answers. But also my fingers retired from typing all the time. And so being able to do the video and the audio format is really great. I am happy to help you guys any way that I can. I have loved weighing in on the cases. I appreciate very much how professional everybody is when we meet, how quickly those meetings happen. I'm fascinated by the process. I love getting to learn about new cases and development, learning the content and then also to just sort of give my perspective for how I think it will be received by the students. So just mostly thanks for letting me be a part of it and feel free to ask me anything. And if you, um ever, I'm like, I'm sitting here thinking, why don't I do a video because I didn't even really fix my hair today. Um, but I'm happy to do another video at some point. If you need me to or to type whatever you guys just ask for what you need and I'll do my best. Thanks so much
