One of the exciting reasons to be back teaching in the States is access to professional development. One of my favorite places in the world is the Nature and Science Museum, so what could be better than a museum class designed for science teachers :) Three days of classes, hands on activities, lectures by professionals, university credit and a $300 stipend. Nice.
Of course I signed up for the class and after the first two classes we were given a homework assignment. The class was about how to incorporate more data into the classroom. Kids need to get used to seeing data and interpreting it. It just so happened that I was contemplating teaching my acceleration unit using cheetahs instead of the all so traditional cars. I found some cheetah data and jumped right in.
For our homework we had to create a science fair type presentation of our lesson. They sent us a rubric and told us there was a prize. Now, I'm competitive enough as it is, but mention a prize and a prize that I actually want and forget it. I went all out. I don't care if this was just a formality, or that everyone was getting the credit no matter what. My parents taught me to do anything to the best of my ability. That poster represents me. When I'm not standing there that poster is who I am. My values, my work ethic, my creativity. Why would I do it half ass? How did my parents instill this quality? Why do people do things to a minute portion of their ability? Why don't people play to win?
Yesterday was the final class and we had a "fair" of our projects and there were several judges from various science fields and guess what... I won.
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Of course I signed up for the class and after the first two classes we were given a homework assignment. The class was about how to incorporate more data into the classroom. Kids need to get used to seeing data and interpreting it. It just so happened that I was contemplating teaching my acceleration unit using cheetahs instead of the all so traditional cars. I found some cheetah data and jumped right in.
For our homework we had to create a science fair type presentation of our lesson. They sent us a rubric and told us there was a prize. Now, I'm competitive enough as it is, but mention a prize and a prize that I actually want and forget it. I went all out. I don't care if this was just a formality, or that everyone was getting the credit no matter what. My parents taught me to do anything to the best of my ability. That poster represents me. When I'm not standing there that poster is who I am. My values, my work ethic, my creativity. Why would I do it half ass? How did my parents instill this quality? Why do people do things to a minute portion of their ability? Why don't people play to win?
Yesterday was the final class and we had a "fair" of our projects and there were several judges from various science fields and guess what... I won.
.JPG)
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