teaching astronomy - year 1

Hello friends!

I'm writing this blog from my hotel in Baltimore. I found out I was accepted to this NASA explorer schools summer research experience in late May, and have been looking forward to it ever since. I've wanted to write this entry for awhile, but wanted to give myself some time to really think about it. Teaching is way harder than anyone who is not a teacher can imagine. Not that I don't love my job, because I totally LOVE my job, but there are some days I find myself shaking my head...a lot. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, so I'll be updating this frequently. I guess you could call it a blog-in-progress. last updated 10:05pm 7/25. 


things that were awesome:

• being part of NASA explorer schools and getting all kinds of cool free lessons from people who are smarter than me.
• passing the science teacher of the year torch on to an awesome chemistry teacher.
• teaching about the planets
• teaching about exoplanets
• teaching about stars
• teaching about galaxies
• teaching about the universe
• teaching about things that absolutely amaze me
• trip to kennedy space center
• student astronaut challenge
• getting to know some new coworkers.
• getting a new room! ok, so maybe it was only for the last 10 days of school, but it's attached to the ground, has good air conditioning and doesn't have 1970s wood paneling. I've moved up in the world. :) 
• being inspired everyday by awesome things going on around me. many of the teachers I work with are absolute rockstars. they make me want to be a better teacher.
• getting an email in the middle of the day one day before the GRAIL tweetup that I got into the GRAIL tweetup.
• moon rocks. (which reminds me, I need to apply for them again. I knew this blog was a good idea!) 
• teaching astronomy. I've wanted to since high school. and now i am. and it's awesome. more awesome than I thought it would be, for sure. So glad my principal is just as crazy as me when it comes to taking chances. It paid off, for sure. 

things that were not so awesome:

• being told how great it must be to have the summer off for the past month. 

I've:
-been to 2 all day workshops... moodle and a clinical educator course
-spent a weekend driving and learning at the 30th anniversary of space camp in huntsville
-took 2 days to clean, pack and organize my classroom, and it's still not done
-started helping with plans for Freshman Fun Friday
-went to KSC 3 times, once for the 50th anniversary celebration, once to see mike mullane, and once for the  7 astronaut future of human spaceflight panel.

I'm going to be:
-headed to a PLC workshop next week for 3 days
-attending a 2 day workshop to learn about the new class I'll be teaching next year
-hanging out with the PLC crew to plan for next year
-here in balitmore for 4 days learning about hubble and other awesome science-y things
-going to another training for a new instructional management system so I can be a "champion" for my school.
Let me clarify by saying I WANTED to do all of these things and thoroughly enjoyed everything I've done so far (because learning is fun) but in no way do I have the summer "off." I'm a year round teacher. I'd like to keep it that way too. I just don't have time to do cool stuff during the school year without taking days off... and I don't like to do that.


things I want to do better next year:

• plan for the trip to kennedy space center
• keep my website updated.
• make an awesomely awesome moodle page. 
• collaborate more.
• collaborate more effectively.
• keep smiling, not matter what.

wild dreams:

• get an intern and help a new teacher be an awesome teacher.
• actually handle being the FAC chair, girls robotics coach, GEMS sponsor, NHS adviser and all the other things I'm going to end up doing. handling them gracefully and without being at school until 8pm every night would also be fantastic.