Carmen's Unwritten Story

Throughout institute, I often thought about how I might incorporate my student’s personal history into the science curriculum. I came up with a couple of ideas over the summer, but I haven’t developed a concrete plan to implement them or come up with any follow-up ideas since. Some of the ideas I had: (i) interviewing someone older than them about the environment/weather when they were growing up (ii) having the ESOL students list or draw characteristics of their home country and connecting that to the different biomes on Earth (iii) bringing in photos of family members and identifying physical features that have been passed down (as a hook into genetics).



This story, and the notes I wrote while reading it, reminded me of the reasons why it’s so important for me to continue thinking about how to make this personal connection between the student and the mandated narrative. It’s a way to get students to feel like they matter, that their story is important, and that they belong.