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| Pari Ghetia (left) is director of the STEM program. |
Monday, Aug. 29 was the first day of the 2015-16 academic year for teachers, and 18 STEM specialists spent the day at Central Office planning for the 10 months ahead.
They discussed a wide range of topics -- exciting things like an the creation of after-school robotics clubs (much more on that later) to mundane-but-critical things like dealing with purchase orders.
Leading the meeting was Pari Ghetia, the new STEAM director (the 'A' stands for Arts). Pari was a resident principal at Bowers last year and has taken over for Santosha Oliver, who is now assistant superintendent in Windsor.
Manchester's elementary STEM program is in its second year. It's part of the district's commitment to ensure that students enjoy a rigorous, relevant, inquiry-based education that emphasizes 21st Century skills including critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving.
At the start of the 2015-16 school year, two STEM specialists were hired for each of our nine elementary schools -- one to serve K-2 students and the other to work with third- through fifth-graders.
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| STEM specialists spent their first day back meeting at Central Office. |
As a rule, STEM specialists see students once every three days, with class lasting 45 minutes. They cover a lot of ground -- and we will try to cover much of this experience in this blog as it unfolds over the year. A spoiler alert though: The highlight for many students includes preparation of the town-wide Science Fair with Invention Convention in the spring.
Well, that's enough for now. Please check back throughout the year as we use this blog to examine "STEM and its many branches."
