I am currently on my summer vacation, one of the many, well deserved, perks to being a teacher. But, let me tell you, I have certainly not stopped working. Not a day goes by, or even an hour for that matter, that I don't think about my kids, or my content, or my plans for next year.
Right now, I am sitting in my gorgeous hotel room at the Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla (San Diego) California.
I am at the Sally Ride Science Academy Conference completely paid for by Exxon Mobile. I will be honest and say that before about 5pm today, I had no idea what this conference was about, it was just a free trip to San Diego where I would get to learn some stuff about science. Boy was I wrong. It is going to be so much more than that.
About an hour ago I was sitting at the reception dinner listening to Sally Ride speak and I had an overwhelming feeling take over me. For those of you who know me, I suffer from massive anxiety when it comes to needles, and this was a very similar feeling I was experiencing. In short, I thought I was having a panic attack. I was light headed and dizzy, and no, it was not because of the open bar they provided us with. I was light headed and dizzy, heart pounding and feeling very anxious because my brain was working much harder and running much faster than my body could handle. I was so EXCITED. I was thinking about change. I was thinking about the new 6th graders I was going to meet. I was thinking about everything I was capable of doing for the kids.
Sally Ride is very much into getting children, specifically young girls and kids with hard financial situations, excited about science. This is the point of this conference. They are training us to get kids excited about science and I was beyond excited about implementing this in my classroom. This is a train the trainer conference, so I am going to be in charge of training many teachers in HISD to implement this. This was also very exciting to me because I am a part of this movement. At first I was just a small piece of the puzzle, but every day I become a bigger part of it.
Before the reception I was discussing the achievement gap with a woman, Karen, as well as the budget crisis. Later, I found out she is Sally Ride's business partner, Dr. Karen Flammer, and also a research physicist at UCSD. Me, a 23 year old who had just finished my first year of teaching after studying to be in ADVERTISING, was discussing the achievement gap with someone who is working, diligently, to end it by working with Sally Ride, THE Sally Ride. Wow.
Part of my excited anxiety attack had to do with the fact that I can see myself doing this for a long time. And I don't necessarily mean teaching forever, but I think I will be in education for a while. Also, it is quite strange to me being from Illinois, going to college in Illinois, and thinking I would always be in Illinois that I currently reside in Houston, TX and that I am newly a big fan of San Diego. I could end up anywhere. My life is so unpredictable. Yikes.
So, what's next? We shall see.
Until next time (which hopefully won't be in November),
Caroline
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