Episode 038: Meet Your Host: Margaret O’Sullivan

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Summary:

Todd Campbell takes over as host today and your host Margaret O’Sullivan becomes the guest. Find out about her experiences with NGSS as a 6th grade science teacher as well as the inspiration behind starting the NGS Navigators Podcast.

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And remember, you’re phenomenal!

Show Highlights

• 04:15 - 08:45    Margaret's background as a 6th grade science teacher
• 09:00 - 16:00    What led Margaret to leave teaching & start the podcast
• 20:00 - 27:30    NGSS By Design: PD with NGS Navigators
• 28:00 - 32:00    Margaret's favorite moments from the first 37 episodes of the podcast & her advice for new-to-NGSS teachers

 Show Quotes 

"One of the best parts of the podcast is really getting to dive deep with science education researchers, and to hear what's going on. You don't always have time, especially when you're in the school year, to sit down a read a research paper or a journal article, because they're intense. But to listen to a conversation with somebody, there's these nuggets you can get and then you can go back and read the article and get more out of it." [8:10 - 8:45] Margaret O'Sullivan

"I'm still obsessed with NGSS, because my state was an early implementer, so I had kind of dived into NGSS early on and really liked it. I really saw a lot of ... transformation in the classroom with my students really taking ownership of the learning, having so much fun and bringing back this wonder of discovery. It was really great, and it was hard to have to step away from that." [10:35 - 11:15] Margaret O'Sullivan 

"The people that I've interviewed are really transparent in saying there is no silver bullet. There is no one best way. There's so many great ways of doing it [teaching NGSS]. And that's been really freeing to hear. And hopefully other teachers are feeling that way, too. There's a lot of good ways to teach science. There's definitely bad ways; there are ways that aren't as effective. But there's lots of good strategies. And instead of being overwhelmed by them, maybe we can look at it like: this gives me freedom to use ones that 1) work for my students and 2) work for me and my strengths." [15:10 - 15:55] Margaret O'Sullivan 

"Everybody (or at least the people I've interviewed, I shouldn't say everybody) seems to become really big fans of it [NGSS], because to see that transformation in your classroom is pretty powerful. I encourage anyone who's listening and just implementing that it's ... It's worth examining your teaching practices and really looking into what you're doing, why you're doing it, and giving it a really try." [31:10-31:50] Margaret O'Sullivan.

Resources

Find Margaret here:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ngsnavigators

Websites: 

• Todd Campbell on Twitter
• Todd Campbell's interview on the NGS Podcast
• 5 Day NGSS Free Summer Challenge

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