What's Right With Rural
Local STEM teacher participates in annual rural teacher event at UW‒Madison
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Julia Xistris (center), a 4K-5 STEM Discovery Teacher in Belleville School District was invited to speak at the 3rd annual Teacher Speakout!
Julia Xistris is a 4K-5 STEM Discovery teacher in the School District of Belleville. She was one of 19 teachers invited by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to speak about rural education issues with education researchers, policymakers, faculty and graduate students at the third annual Teacher Speakout!
Held at the university in November, Teacher Speakout! was a two-day event in which teachers from 18 rural schools across Wisconsin gathered at the university for a panel discussion on issues that matter most to STEM teachers working and living in rural areas.
Why the emphasis on STEM education? "In our conversations with rural school administrators, educators and parents, we hear about challenges in hiring and retaining STEM teachers, as well as concern over being able to offer STEM courses similar to larger districts," said Craig Albers, Co-Director of the Rural Education Research & Implementation Center (RERIC), the sponsor of Teacher Speakout! "We hope participants were able to learn about opportunities at UW‒Madison to further strengthen their STEM programs, as the number of STEM-related jobs continues to grow in this country."
Xistris was eager to share her perspective. Armed with no curriculum, no budget and a one-year temporary position, the very resourceful Xistris taught her students-including kindergartners-how to code using a free online international coding program. The little learners intuitively caught on.
"My class became this amazing computer science coding lab for kids who are passionate about inquiry-based learning," said Xistris.
Xistris is a Master Teacher and coordinator for Project Lead The Way. She travels the country certifying teachers in STEM learning.
