Pub. 3 2013-2014 Issue 2

13 Student Work BY WILLIAM MATTISON, BEEHIVE ACADEMY A s an English teacher at a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) charter school, dis- covering my role was a task in itself. I didn’t know whether to attempt to alter my teaching strategies to support and contribute to the charter, or to simply hold down the language arts fort while the science, computer, and electives instructors took care of the more befitting science and technology implementation. Soon after starting, I realized that Beehive has a unified and familial culture. The entire staff and many of the par- ents are engaged in all of the school’s activities, curricular and extra-curricular. I was and am fully expected to seam- lessly incorporate science and technology into my language arts classroom. Of course, as of late, applying technology to the class- room is a must in any school, as being technologically sav- vy is such a valuable skill to have in the competitive ‘real world.’ Any teacher failing to show his or her students the application of technology to any content area is in need of an update. Furthermore, students must have plenty of op- portunities to provide discourse by technological means. That covers the ‘why,’ but of course the real ques- tions on teachers’ minds are the ‘how’ and ‘when.’ When the staff and students of Beehive Academy were handed CONTINUED ON PAGE 14