How long have you taught and what subject do you teach?
I’ve been teaching science at Shawnee since 1988.
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What made you decide to participate in this event?
Joanne Schafer, Curriculum Director for FWCS, brought the program to my attention. It appealed to me for many reasons. My own children loved playing SimCity, and I guessed that there would be other students who felt the same about the game. FC provided an opportunity for students who had not yet found their niche to become involved at school.
I like the cross-curricular approach to the project – computer application for technology, city design and planning for social studies, budgeting for math, model building for science, art and math, research, writing and presentations for language arts and science, etc. I also enjoyed getting to know students on a different level than class affords.
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What were the notable rewards for you and the students?
I think we all enjoyed the project. The kids loved the game and the model building. They were somewhat reticent about the research and writing aspects of the project, but with direction and encouragement learned what they needed to learn to pull the essay together. We spent a few evenings at school as we got close to the competition, ordered pizza, and worked late and really had fun.
Kids have so many creative ideas – they still “think outside the box” – and I think I gained as much from them as they did from me. Their imaginations know no limits and it was enlightening and entertaining to listen to their ideas.
It was also great working with an engineer from the “real world” and Ryan’s contributions were really appreciated by everybody.
When I introduced FC to the students, I explained that the winning regional team traveled to Washington, D. C. for the national competition and that I had never been to D.C. The kids took it upon themselves to “win me a trip.” I said if they did we’d take their families and make it really fun. They held me to every part of that – they won the trip, and we caravanned out to Washington with all of our families in four vans, and enjoyed every second of it!! I think the kids liked giving me this trip as much as they liked the pride they felt from winning the competition.
The regional competition is a blast! The educational aspect of the competition was enhanced by holding it at the University. It was a great experience for the kids to be interviewed by people working in the “real world” and to describe and defend their ideas. The interaction of the participants was remarkable, too. The kids start out sizing up the competition, but by the middle of the day, they were comparing ideas and problems, and offering suggestions to each other for next year. There seems to be a natural camaraderie among people who have gone through similar experiences, even when they are in competition with each other.
Another reward of the program is still evolving. Our three team members, and one alternate, were for the most part, average students (ok, one was a brainiac, but the others were average), and they didn’t know what they wanted to do with their lives in the future. Since FC, three of the four are honor students in high school, and two have decided to pursue engineering as a career.
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How did you manage things like: time, deadlines, creating a positive team atmosphere, facilitating rapport between the students and Ryan Feeback, your engineering mentor?
We began our program at Shawnee as an after school club and all students were eligible. This was a good approach from some perspectives, but problematic from others. Our time was limited to after school hours, and since sports practice concurrently, this unfortunately eliminated athletes. As we progressed, some attrition occurred due to other scheduling conflicts, too – kids that lived in outlying areas of our district couldn’t get a ride home, or had responsibilities to the family, or were involved in other activities. Since the club was open to all students, we collected students that were not involved in other programs. Some of these students had been excluded from other groups for academic or behavior reasons, and they presented some challenges keeping them on task. There were even a couple of students that I had to eventually exclude from our club as they presented more distraction and problems than assistance.
We started with about 35 students working on the city, but realized that we needed to select only three students to represent us at competition. So, I designed a questionnaire for the kids to fill out to evaluate who would represent our school the best. The kids rated each other on attendance, participation, group dynamics, and contribution to the group and from these scores we selected our team members and an alternate to take our future city to competition. Since the kids chose the team there was no conflict or bad feelings from anyone, and they all continued to work together toward our final goal.
Facilitating rapport between the students and our engineer was the easiest part of the process. The kids took to Ryan immediately – he treated them as colleagues working on a project together – and they really responded to his respect. I served as the manager – managing discipline issues (kids that came to mess around rather than truly helping), due dates (I like to think of it as reminding, but the kids might say haranguing!), and details (dimensions, critiquing the essay, keeping the team in reality!). I was also in charge of worrying – worrying that we wouldn’t finish in time, that our subway system wouldn’t work, that the kids would forget their lines, etc., etc. Ryan and I did not DO anything – the kids planned, built, painted, researched, and wrote everything themselves. Kids sometimes work on a different time line that adults do, and so worrying was my solution to their procrastination. We chose to build only one model for our first year, as we weren’t very confident about our abilities. The second year we had three teams and three cities. It was much more challenging, and more time consuming, with three groups than it was with only one, and there was a great deal more to worry about!
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What was the most difficult part of the program?
The essay was definitely the most difficult part. The students were not very experienced in research technique and the topic was beyond their academic exposure. They had to learn HOW to do research, and how to limit their findings. They had to learn a great deal of information as background before they could even begin creating a cohesive essay. It was difficult and took much more time that we had allotted for this part of the project. The kids learned a lot from this activity, but I can’t say that they enjoyed it very much.
We also had difficulty with the computers. Our school had limited access to computers the first year and this made it difficult to find enough time for the kids to develop their cities. The Mac program crashed and locked up a lot. The second year we added a Windows lab, and switched to SimCity Windows format and never had another problem.
For me, personally, the most difficult aspect was time. Our club met after school four times a week until 4:00 p.m., and then we expanded until 5:00 p.m. In December and January, we met every night until 5:00, and until 7:00 on Fridays. We also met several Saturdays to work on the model. I enjoyed the work, but my family was somewhat neglected during this time. I think they forgave me when we all got to go to D.C.!
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If you would recommend this to other teachers, can you explain why? And anything else you feel is important to say to new people just starting the program.
I highly recommend Future Cities to everyone – it is a truly unique opportunity. It provides a learning environment with real world application and gives kids a chance to express themselves in ways that they can’t in traditional school settings. They have the opportunity to learn about city management (finances, engineering, architecture, construction), teamwork, how to research and write, and develop their speaking skills. They learn how to work with adults and give polished presentations. It is lots of fun during the project and at competition. Meeting the other teams’ members, and viewing the other models, was a highlight. Our regional competition is an experience that is unequalled. It is well organized, well staffed and professional. The national competition is a huge event – there are high ranking military officials and executives from well known firms judging or addressing the audience. There is national media coverage. They even host a dance for all the teams on the last evening. It is a really big deal, and really fun.
Some of the advice and recommendations I would have for beginning coaches include the following:
• Matching the SimCity program to the model is not required. The judges seem to look for creativity, originality, craftsmanship in the model and functionality and fiscal responsibility in the program, but the program doesn’t need to match the model.
• On the essay and abstract, get your L.A. teachers involved to help kids w/ research and writing. High quality products are expected.
• Make your model attractive. The judges seem to be predominantly left-brain dominant, logical-mathematical individuals (engineers, architects, city planners, etc.) who value order and precision. Messy models scored poorly. Beautiful models dominate at Nationals. Let the kids go with their creativity. One person’s garbage (broken CD’s, empty bottles, Styrofoam) is a Future City modeler’s dream!
• Winning teams were extremely professional in their presentations - start early and rehearse often. Prepare and use many visuals – charts, graphs, etc. (like teaching a lesson). The top teams were beautifully coordinated, fluidly transferring among speakers and topics. Get help from your school’s speech coach w/ preparation and delivery of the presentation.
• When questioned by judges, the most impressive groups answered as a team. Specifically, one team member addressed the question from the city design standpoint, one from the essay perspective, and one from the model position. Or they provided three parts to their answer, each member offering one of the parts. A very professional and team focused approach seemed to work the best.
• Refer to your judges score sheets often. Let them guide you during the project.
Finally, the kids on our first team assisted the second year’s teams. The 2002 kids attended the 2003 regional competition. Last year’s team members have already started peer coaching this year’s teams. I think the continued involvement of those kids who have participated in Future City with those just starting out says the most about the program. The kids want to be involved. It’s hard work, yet they want to be involved. They want to STAY involved. My best advice to any teacher or engineer considering Future City is to just do it. Let the kids guide you and you’ll catch their enthusiasm. Don’t be afraid of the unknown, take advantage of the help-sessions and seminars, and just do it. You’ll be glad you did, and so will your kids.
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