 Greetings from the Engineering STEM Identity (ESI)
team at the Maricopa County Education Service Agency! We have a lot of exciting
new developments to share with you as we move further into the school year.
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 Jeff Hengesbach, ESI STEM Coach, has begun coaching
our teachers through our interactive video conferencing (IVC) technology! When
asked to describe the experience, Jeff has stated, “Every day I get to work
with top-notch educators, who are seeking to create engaging and effective
learning cultures in their classrooms. I have the good fortune of working with
a fantastic and supportive group of professionals who are seeking to improve
the educational experiences of a great number of teachers and their many
students.” Jeff looks forward to continuing to support our 25 teachers as we
move forward in the grant.
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 As mentioned in our August newsletter, a key component of ESI is student STEM identity development via interaction with STEM professional role models. By using IVC, ESI facilitates these role model interactions in the most time-efficient manner possible, making it possible to connect STEM professionals at their work with classrooms.
Throughout Maricopa County, business and industry is enthusiastically responding to the opportunity to provide STEM role models for our students. “The impact from our students collaborating with our business partner role models will be huge,” says Gale Beauchamp, Business and Education Partnership Coordinator. Gale has visited numerous businesses, from Fortune 500 companies to startup ventures. We are discovering that STEM professionals are enthusiastic to volunteer. Watch for the next newsletter when we will “spotlight” one of our companies working with the students.
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Our
first STEM professional conferenced with a classroom on August 27! We want to
give special thanks to Matthew Cunningham for taking the time to speak with
students. Matthew enthusiastically described how a role model influenced him to
become an engineer, and now as a STEM professional, Matthew is able to act as a
role model for the children in our program. If you or someone you know is
interested in learning how to participate, please contact Gale Beauchamp.
Our first formal STEM
Role Model Volunteer Training occurred on Tuesday, September 16!
We would like to thank all of the engineers for their participation in
training!
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Four of the ten districts participating in the ESI program (Balsz, Mobile, Nadaburg and Tolleson) are also part of MCESA’s Rewarding Excellence in Instruction and Leadership (REIL) and REIL The Next Generation alliances. REIL and REIL-TNG implement systemic change aimed at transforming how schools recruit, retain, support, and compensate effective teachers and leaders. The ultimate goal is building the capacity of educators to improve student learning. Teachers participating in ESI and REIL/REIL-TNG are excited about their involvement in both grants, and they have been able to identify how the modeling instruction in ESI supports them on their educator observations. ESI wholeheartedly supports our colleagues with the REIL/REIL-TNG initiatives, and we look forward to continued collaboration on how to best support our educators! To learn more about REIL and REIL-TNG visit www.mcesa.az.gov
The MCESA STEM Commission is a group of business leaders committed to
developing a model to support sustainable business and education partnerships
that create meaningful and impactful opportunities for students, thereby
increasing student STEM identity development. Commissioners recently met with
MCESA leadership and ESI staff on Thursday, September 18. We would like to thank
these leaders for their invaluable feedback!
To learn more about the STEM Commission, please contact Gale Beauchamp.
On August 14, we attended the Arizona Innovation
Summit. “A state-wide celebration of science, technology, engineering and
math,” the event provided ample opportunity for us to meet with STEM
professionals from industry, education, arts and the general community. Keep an
eye out for our booth at the next summit!
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Finally, we would like to celebrate with a collection of classroom
photos:
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