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MaryAnn Bernstein; Burlington, MA:
 “If
kids are going to spend their time learning this material, investigating
this material, it’s important that their time be used well,
and simply touching on the main ideas or the vocabulary involved
doesn’t leave them with any kind of understanding of the
topic. In order for me to do that, I need to know what I’m
teaching, I need to know the background, and it really has required
a fair amount of research on my part, to be able to feel comfortable
to field their questions and to be able to give them those big
ideas that are important for them to keep when we leave the topic.”
School at a Glance:
Fox Hill School
Burlington, MA
Enrollment: 502
Ethnicity:
88% White
8% Asian
3% African American
Percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch: 6% versus
a state average of 28%
MaryAnn Bernstein teaches third grade at the Fox
Hill School in Burlington, MA, an affluent suburb about 20 miles
north of Boston. Students at the school consistently score well
above state averages on state tests and only 6% of them receive
a free or reduced-price lunch. About 88% of the Fox Hill School’s
students are white.
In the past several years, state standards in
Massachusetts have become more specific and have required teachers
to cover new, and
often more numerous, topics in science. With less time to spend
on each topic, MaryAnn has noticed that she needs to focus carefully
on the big or essential ideas in each lesson if her children are
to build meaningful understandings.
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Teacher & School
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