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Ariel Owen and Jeff Parrish; Walnut Creek, CA
 "I
think it’s really hard to learn something new — just phenomenally
hard to learn a concept that you’ve never been introduced to before
and then to be tested on it. And to have some compassion and
respect for what it is that we’re asking these kids to do on a daily
basis is very important. So my philosophy is simple. It’s hard to
learn, and it’s my job to bring as many ideas and facets to a lesson
as I can. It needs to be visual, it needs to be oral, it needs
to be kinetic. I need to get those kids any way I can, and I
need to really respect what
they’re doing."
-Ariel Owen
"I just dig the kids at this age. For
the most part, they’re like
sponges and they’re excited — they jump and learn — and
for a lot of them, this is the first time they’ve really had any
science education at all. My goal is to move my kids as far as
I possibly can in the short amount of time I’ve got, to try to impart
as much knowledge as I can, and to have learning be as exciting
as it can possibly
be."
-Jeff Parrish
School at a Glance:
Foothill Middle School
Walnut Creek, CA
Grades: 6-8
Enrollment: 1,146
Students per Teacher: 20+
Ethnicity:
75% White
1.5% African American
4.7% Hispanic
16.3 Asian
Ariel Owen and Jeff Parrish teach 6th grade science at the Foothill Middle
School in Walnut Creek, California. Ariel started teaching after
a career in office management at large real estate and retail organizations — “I
was good at it, but it was very boring,” she comments. So she returned
to school, earned her degree in education, and started teaching
science. “What
I really like,” says Ariel, “is working in something where
I get immediate results, and feel like I’m making a good contribution
to what’s happening with my future and with theirs.”
Jeff
attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored
in biological field science and planned to go to dental school,
but jokes that he realized it was more his mom’s idea than his own.
After returning from Vietnam, Jeff returned to school to get
certified, and has been in the classroom ever since — an impressive
32 years.
Though not formally teamed, Jeff and Ariel are the only 6th grade
science teachers at Foothill, and they work together closely,
following approximately the same lesson plans and freely exchanging
ideas.
Recently, both have been working with an online, inquiry-based curriculum
called WISE, which was developed through a partnership
between the education department at UC Berkeley and the Concord
Consortium. Both teachers agree that a major strength of using
computers for science
education is that it gives the students unique opportunities
to model scientific processes. “At this age,” says Jeff, “students
are very literal. Being able to show them computerized models
rather than just a stagnant page in a book is a big help to them
when they’re
trying to understand a concept.” Ariel adds, “When my students
are working on this, they are utterly engaged — talking to each
other, reading, making entries on their computers… they’re
excited about what they ’re
learning.”
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