Had I known as a middle school or high school - or even college - student that there were so many fabulous science career opportunities in the world, I may not have become a science teacher. Not that there's anything wrong with being a teacher. In fact, I love teaching! I just never realized that my interest in science could be used for anything more than teaching it. I had the pleasure of learning under several amazing science teachers and professors in my educational career, but none of them ever told me about careers related to the science we were studying in class. In the past three years, I've had two students who were about to graduate high school come back to the wonderful world that is middle school just to let me know that they're choosing science careers... because of me! They never realized that science could actually be FUN until they took my class! (Seriously, there's no greater moment as a teacher than to have a student come back 6 years later to tell you that!!) It got me thinking...how many more students might graduate high school and go on to science careers if someone just made them aware of all the incredible science opportunities that are out there?! So my mission this year is to incorporate science career awareness into the curriculum. I'm not talking in depth studies or anything. Just brief overviews of the careers that use the science we're currently studying. For instance, when my 8th graders study genetics and heredity, I'm thinking we should take a day and talk about Genetic Engineering, Biotechnology, Genomics, and even Genetic Counseling. Here's some of the other careers I'm thinking of incorporating: Acoustics Physicist Aerospace Engineer Archaeologist Astronomer Atmospheric Scientist Biochemist Biomedical Engineer Cancer Researcher Chemist Ecologist Environmental Scientist Experimental Physicist Food Scientist Forensic Scientist Geologist Mechanical Engineer Oceanographer Pharmacist Seismologist Sonographer Volcanologist I'm sure I'll come up with more as I get into the curriculum this year, but I think I have a good start here! As I come up with the career-related activities that I want the students to do (because I don't just want to talk to them for 40 minutes about these careers every chapter! Ugh!), I'll be sure to post them!
I'm always trying to keep up on the latest technology to use in my classroom, so when I heard about Celly last month I was immediately eager to check it out. Celly is a mobile social network of sorts that allows teachers to send reminders to students, conduct polls, and even exchange group messages. I'm intrigued by Celly for a few reasons: 1 - The creators of Celly have worked very hard to make it a safe social network. No phone numbers are ever exchanged (everyone has the opportunity to create a username). This means that my students can actually send me a message regarding their homework - and I can respond - without them ever knowing my phone number. Also, if a student wants to message the whole group, as the teacher I can preview the message before it gets sent out to the whole group (which means no cyberbullying!). 2 - I have used a website in previous years that would allow me to send out newsflash reminders to students and parents, but the advantage of Celly is that I can schedule reminders and updates in advance. In other words, I can schedule Thursday's homework reminder on Monday, and it will go out on Thursday without me having to give it another thought! I tend to be really forgetful when it comes to sending out reminders, so being able to schedule them in advance is a perfect feature for me! :) 3 - I've wanted to get a "clicker system" for my classroom for a couple of years now, but thanks to Celly I may not need to! Celly has a polling feature that can be used in real time in the classroom. Now, not all of my students have devices that they can bring to class, and we have a "no cell phone" policy in our building, but if enough students have an iPod or something similar then they could participate in the poll in small groups within the class. It's worth considering, anyway! Today I officially signed up for a Celly account, and I'm looking forward to trying it out in the coming school year!
A friend kindly reminded me yesterday that we only have three more Mondays left until we're back at work. Yep, only three. The end of the summer is always bittersweet for me. While I absolutely love having summers to spend at home with my own kids (ages 8, 5, and 1), I'm also one of those blessed people who actually enjoys what I do for a living! I love teaching! Which is why I'm NOT one of those teachers who leaves at the end of May and doesn't think one bit about school until teacher work day in August. (We all know one or two of those, right?!) ;) I do force myself to take a few weeks' mental break, usually in mid-late June and early-July, but then it's right back into the thick of things. Finding ideas of how to redecorate/reorganize my classroom, researching content for lessons, and looking for new technology to add/try. I'm always brainstorming ways to improve what I do, browsing Pinterest for ideas, and bouncing new ideas off my husband (who is always so gracious to listen to me ramble on!). I found this graphic online this morning; I can totally vouch for what it says!
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.
So as you start - or continue - thinking about the new school year ahead, remember that the time you spend now will be well worth it!
