Teacher Voices Through the Years: Kaleidoscope’s Top Reads (Part 2)
For ten years, we’ve been publishing our teacher-run, teacher-written journal, Kaleidoscope: Educator Voices and Perspectives. The articles are powerful, heartfelt, and thought-provoking. In recognition of the 10th anniversary, we’re reflecting on the journal’s ten most-read articles, exploring why these pieces continue to resonate and inspire.
If you missed the first part of our countdown, check out this blog to read about articles #10, #9, and #8. In this post, we’re diving into articles #7, #6, #5, and #4—stories that illuminate the courage, creativity, and commitment of teachers working to make a difference. Let’s continue the countdown!
#7: Difficult Conversations in Support of LGBTQ+ Students by Beverly Stuckwisch
Originally published in Spring 2019
Summary by Rebecca Van Tassell
I am very excited to share this piece with you, both because of its power to inspire others to be brave and vulnerable, and also because of the closeness I feel to its author and my privilege in being able to be involved in the process through which this piece emerged.
Bev wrote this piece as the culmination of multiple years of work to support LGBTQ+ students in her rural, politically conservative school. During her time as a Knowles Fellow, Bev was investigating this challenge as she sought to understand what it meant for her to be a teacher leader in her community. Bev worked with her inquiry group colleagues to tease apart assumptions she was making about members of her community and made a commitment to find ways to engage productively across differences. Throughout Bev’s piece, she chronicles the challenges she faced as she worked to support students who were actively facing discrimination in her school. She explores data from a Professional Learning Community she formed at her school, where she discovered allies she didn’t know existed. Bev deftly weaves descriptions of her work with students, interactions with parents and administrators, her work with her inquiry group and her own reflections on her learning to create a compelling and inspiring picture of working for justice in a truly challenging environment.
This piece surfaces so many things that we’ve learned in supporting teachers to tell their stories. The first is the value of iterative and collaborative work with trusted colleagues. Bev’s story is full of ways that the relationships she had with other teachers and administrators allowed her to persist through emotionally charged challenges. The part that we don’t see in the piece is all the behind the scenes work, the brainstorming, the conversations, the drafts, and the feedback that went into making this piece, and the others we share in our journal. At the time Bev was finalizing this piece, she had newly joined the editorial staff of Kaleidoscope and we were rolling out new support structures to respond to the needs of our teacher-storytellers. With the support of Kaleidoscope peer advisors (available to anyone who wishes to write for Kaleidoscope), Bev was able to create the marvelous story she eventually published with us.
#6: Four Phases of the Engineering Design Process in Math and Science Classrooms by Kelsey Rasmussen, Katey Shirey, Scott Murphy, and Casey O’Hara
Originally published in Spring 2015
Summary by Rebecca Van Tassell
This piece offers up a useful framework for teachers to consider as they integrate engineering projects in their classroom. This article was co-written by Kelsey Johnson Rasmussen, Scott Murphy, Casey O’Hara and Katherine Shirey, all Senior Fellows who contributed to the development of Knowles Engineering—a community committed to integrating engineering instruction into math and science courses. Each of these teachers have integrated engineering projects in their classrooms and actively work with others to support their learning about engineering. This article, written almost 10 years ago, now serves as the basis for two Knowles Academy courses available to all teachers: Engaging Students in Engineering Design and Engineering for Student and Community Empowerment.
Their framework expands on the three-phase process described in the Next Generation Science Standards, including problem definition, design exploration, design optimization, and adding design communication. Their framework highlights the iterative nature of engineering design, and how early stages of engineering design call for divergent thinking, before narrowing to an optimized solution. In the authors’ descriptions of projects in the four phases of their engineering design process, they describe how the process creates conditions for rich student learning. In design exploration, students create and test designs through iteration, requiring the teacher to relinquish control, and let the students lead with their designs. Students use tools to evaluate their work, and without a predetermined answer, students are free to explore and evaluate designs as they encounter many design constraints which expose them to content that teachers might have thought would be a challenge to “cover” in a similar amount of instructional time. Additionally, they describe the complexity and richness of the work students generate, as they are invested in a design that is theirs. To quote from their article: “The design [process] shifts the purpose of classroom activities away from that of teacher demand and approval, and toward student interest and student evaluation, increasing the intrinsic motivation that students have towards their work.”
The Engineering team’s article reminds us why having a design framework for your instructional approaches is a powerful tool for ensuring purposeful, coherent instructional choices in the classroom. Just as the engineering design process forces us to operate within constraints, a good instructional framework provides constraints that can hone our focus on what is most important to us in our teaching.
#5: Call and Response: What Keeps You Coming Back? By Mandi Kraemer, Lisa Sitek, Madison Park, Allison McMahon, Jamie Melton, Mendi Dean, Cristian Chacon, Kristin Mongello, Liz Smith, and Sujata Ganpule
Originally published in Fall 2019
Summary by Beverly Stuckwisch
In each edition of the journal, we have a Call & Response section, where we invite Knowles Fellows to submit a short response to prompt. In our Fall 2019 edition, the prompt was “What Keeps You Coming Back?”
Something that struck me as I reread the responses was that every single one talked about the students. Mandi Kraemer talked about seeing her students’ success beyond her classroom. Lisa Sitek talked about consistently learning new things from her students and still having fun in the classroom after 20 years. Madison Park expressed a desire to make school a place where students want to be. Allison McMahon shared a touching quote from a student who said:
I have never before had a teacher who genuinely cared about how I felt. In my 8 years of living in America and going to American school, you have been one of the best teachers I have had. Thank you for being awesome. Your effort motivates me. Thank you!
Jamie Melton and Cris Chacon expressed joy in developing excellence and helping students to better understand the world around them. Mandi Dean and Kristin Mongelli talked about advocating for students and the impact of showing them that you care. Liz Smith highlighted building student confidence and reducing their math anxiety. And Sujata Ganpule talked about teaching as a continued opportunity to be creative and make connections. I would encourage anyone to read these responses more in depth and to take the time to consider what your response would be as well.
#4: Do I Belong Here?: The Struggles of our First Generation Students by Tanya La Mar
Originally published in Fall 2015
Summary by Erin Oakley
Tanya LaMar was a third year teacher when she decided to take a risk and write a vulnerable piece about her identity as a first generation college student and how it affected her relationships, not only to her students, but also family and herself. Her article was featured in the third issue of Kaleidoscope and has been impacting all types of readers since its publication.
She begins by explaining how her family upbringing both supported and pushed her to achieve more than she might have believed, which was both a good and bad thing. While Tanya loved her classes, she found that her new knowledge was distancing her from her family. She saw this experience mirrored in her students, many of whom would also be first generation college-goers. After surveying her students, Tanya set up an advisory program that would help them navigate not only the logistics of college, but also find their way through this complex identity transformation. She says,
As teachers, it is almost second nature for us to encourage our students to go to college—to chase the American Dream. But, do we take the time to at least acknowledge that this achievement comes with other transformations—that for some students we are encouraging them to depart from the world that they know and feel they belong in?
Tanya’s piece has not only helped to inform teachers, but it has also given voice to other first generation college students. Last year, as I was helping a freshman college student with her essay about her identity, I noticed a familiar name in the bibliography. When I asked her why she was including this article in her paper, she told me, “she wrote down how I am feeling.” Even though Tanya is a white woman from California, my Minnesotan, recent immigrant, Somali-Muslim student saw herself in Tanya and that is a special type of belonging.
These four pieces explore the deep emotional and personal work that teachers invest in supporting their students and building inclusive classrooms. Beverly Stuckwisch’s article highlights the courage needed to support LGBTQ+ students in a conservative community, demonstrating how collaboration and perseverance can create meaningful change. Kelsey Rasmussen and her co-authors outline a framework for integrating engineering into classrooms, showcasing how hands-on, student-driven projects can foster rich learning experiences. Mandi Kraemer and her colleagues reflect on what keeps them teaching, with a common theme of finding inspiration in their students’ growth and success. Tanya La Mar’s piece shares her struggles as a first-generation college student and the challenges her students face in navigating their own identities, reminding us of the importance of empathy and guidance. Together, these stories emphasize the power of relationships, reflection, and pushing boundaries to better serve students. What resonates with you? What do you want to share with other teachers?
In our next post, we’ll share the final three articles in our Top 10.