Using the City as a Classroom

BY ANGELA BARBUTI

This year, Diana Lennon was honored with a Sloan Award for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics, given to seven New York City public high school teachers who foster a love of learning with creative lessons.

Lennon teaches ninth grade biology and 12th grade environmental science at Columbia Secondary School, on 123rd Street in Harlem. The college preparatory school, which specializes in math, science and engineering, partners with Columbia University, and serves sixth through 12th grade students.

To keep students engaged, the Long Island-native uses a blended learning approach, which includes using New York City as her classroom. Trips to Morningside Park and the Bronx Zoo enhance ecology lessons, which Lennon finds extremely rewarding. “It’s kind of enlightening because you don’t realize that city kids don’t really have that experience with nature,” she explained. “Getting them to see that, even within the city, there is a natural landscape and a natural world that they can be part of and they can actually see, is really important to me.”

How did you get into teaching and why did you choose science as your subject?I’ve always been interested in science ever since I was a kid. I thought about being a vet. I always pursued science; I got a degree in biology. I decided to go into teaching after thinking about what it was I wanted to do and feeling like I wanted to do something that was somewhat giving back to society. And I had said before that I owe it to my mom, because she’s the one who suggested that I go into teaching.

Tell us about CSS. What is the atmosphere like and how did you get your start there? I have been teaching there for six years. I was teaching on Long Island and basically got excessed during that economic downturn. I ended up looking for a job there and I really liked the atmosphere and what they were promoting. And it was a new school, so at the time when I got there, it was actually only about to have a tenth grade level. It started with sixth grade and added a grade level each year. When I started, it added tenth grade. So I thought it was really great to be getting in at a new school at the ground level and being able to actually influence policy, organization and how things are done.

As a science teacher, explain how you use the city in your lessons.It’s just great to have a park like Morningside across the way. Being from Long Island, I spent all my summers at the beach and went to school for biology out east in South Hampton. One of my favorite courses was field biology, where we would go out into the forest and our professor would identify trees and tell us their scientific name. And I loved it. So with my students, I take them out to Morningside Park and I do a little bit of that. We do ecology lessons out there, so we’ll talk about food chains and food webs and energy levels. And on the way, we’re always identifying the trees and animals.

You are known for your blended learning approach. What is meant by that?In my mind, it just means you’re doing lots of different modes of instruction to reach as many kids as possible. We’ll do computer stuff. Right now, my environmental students are doing research into a particular country. Students are using Gapminder to create graphs with different variables about populations for various countries. And then we do project-based learning. In my ninth grade class, they have to do projects for every unit. So in the ecology unit, they had to design a zoo habitat. The twist is that it’s supposed to be real, like the animals really are supposed to eat each other, so you get through all the concepts of ecology. Right now, we’re doing body systems and they have to create a mini “House M.D.” episode. I give them a mystery illness and symptoms as we go. And they have to use the platform of “House” episodes. I got it from a colleague and it’s just worked. And going outside, of course. Like for the students who do the zoo projects, we go to the Bronx Zoo, so that they get to experience and see what the exhibits actually look like. And then hands-on labs, where we follow through with writing a lab report.

What are some of the challenges that you face in your job?The challenge is that the school is collocated right now with three other schools, so every single room is used. So the challenge is if you want to offer extra help, there’s no room that’s not being used, so it’s very difficult to do that. Class size is always an issue for teachers. And I’ve taught as packed a class as 34 kids. Like on Long Island, this was never the class size. There’s 34 kids in a class, and that’s even in a science lab. And that’s what New York City allows, but I wouldn’t say that it’s really sustainable. That’s 68 hands and I only have two eyes and two hands. To me, that’s probably one of the biggest challenges and obviously, the resources. And yet, we get by and do really great work, but that’s not to say it should be okay because of the amazing work we do. The question is, “What could our children be doing if we had the equipment and the right class size?” Imagine what else. What could be the possibilities if we didn’t have these constraints?

What are the best parts of teaching?The best parts are the students, always. They just do amazing things and come through for you. Like when they do projects, you’ll be pleasantly surprised sometimes and be like, “Wow, I’ve never thought of that.” And even in the speech I gave at the award ceremony, one of the things I said was that I learn from them when they’re allowed to choose their topics. Like one group decided to do the Zika virus last year and we learned a lot from them. The other great thing is because I teach high school, the kids will come back from college or they’ll email and say that something that we did in class was so helpful for them. I have another student, the young woman who spoke for me at the Sloan Awards, who wrote me a letter and said, “I wouldn’t be going into my major without the things that you did in your class and how you inspired me with your trips and talks about your travels around the world.”