I still cannot believe that this is me....that I am a Fund For Teacher Fellow.
At the beginning of the school year, my district curriculum director posed this question to our entire staff "If you could go anywhere to bring back new experiences to your students, where would you go?". I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and finally, it came to me. I have been working with my team partner, Melissa Elliott (also a FFT Fellow this year, woo hoo!!) on developing "Difference Maker" lessons to build emerging science and social studies curriculum for our district. We want to engage our students in exciting work right within our own community, to bring about positive action.
I narrowed down all of the amazing places that I could travel - to the one that I think will most significantly impact my students and myself as a teacher. I will be headed out to California. I will explore Yosemite National Park then head to University of the Pacific to meet with Muir experts and study his nature journals and persuasive writings first hand. Then, I will head to Martinez, CA to visit his homestead and hike Mt. Wanda (on a full moon hike!) to learn more about his life as an agriculturalist. Next, I will head to San Francisco to visit Muir Woods and Golden Gate National Parks, following by visits to the CA Academy of the Sciences as well as meeting with Sierra Club members (the organization that Muir founded) to learn about how they use persuasive communications to bring about positive action. By the way, if you didn't already know this, this year is the 100th anniversary of our national parks system....I am thrilled to mark it with this experience!
I am so excited for this journey to unfold. Stay tuned....
At the beginning of the school year, my district curriculum director posed this question to our entire staff "If you could go anywhere to bring back new experiences to your students, where would you go?". I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and finally, it came to me. I have been working with my team partner, Melissa Elliott (also a FFT Fellow this year, woo hoo!!) on developing "Difference Maker" lessons to build emerging science and social studies curriculum for our district. We want to engage our students in exciting work right within our own community, to bring about positive action.
I narrowed down all of the amazing places that I could travel - to the one that I think will most significantly impact my students and myself as a teacher. I will be headed out to California. I will explore Yosemite National Park then head to University of the Pacific to meet with Muir experts and study his nature journals and persuasive writings first hand. Then, I will head to Martinez, CA to visit his homestead and hike Mt. Wanda (on a full moon hike!) to learn more about his life as an agriculturalist. Next, I will head to San Francisco to visit Muir Woods and Golden Gate National Parks, following by visits to the CA Academy of the Sciences as well as meeting with Sierra Club members (the organization that Muir founded) to learn about how they use persuasive communications to bring about positive action. By the way, if you didn't already know this, this year is the 100th anniversary of our national parks system....I am thrilled to mark it with this experience!
I am so excited for this journey to unfold. Stay tuned....