Teaching this summer has been so entertaining! I'm teaching two classes; one that emphasizes rocketry and stages of Mars colonization and one that is focusing on building structures on Mars.
Today we used Google SketchUp to design buildings for our Mars colony. Modeling domes was very challenging. One girl looked up directions on Google; it worked sort of.... Then a boy discovered 3D Warehouse and we had fun finding Mars colony designs that were already made.
As usual, it is hard to get a class to concentrate on working on computers when it is so tempting to surf the net. Also, several students are ignoring the no earbuds during class rule. Overall, the class went well and the students learned something new by using Google SketchUp.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A Summer Job Opportunity or 2
By an incredible stroke of luck, I landed a summer school job: teaching engineering!
With schools facing exsanguinating budget cuts there seemed little hope of finding summer work in the field of education. Just as I was beginning to practice saying "Would you like fries with that?" I received an email announcing a job opportunity to teach at Upward Bound's summer program at a local university. Upward Bound is a highly regarded college prep program for disadvantaged youth. The job application required a video sampling of my teaching. It was totally frightening to see myself in DVD format, but at least I sounded professional. I got called in for an interview, but it seemed they really wanted a science teacher.
The theme for the summer was intriguing: Imagine Life on Mars. I knew it would be a cool job and I really wanted it! But I had given up hope after not hearing back from my interviewer after two weeks went by and I applied for a job as a national board assessor. Then I finally got a call back with an offer of a job! I was thrilled to accept it. The very next day national board called to sign me up but I had to turn them down. Maybe I should have applied for an admin job while my luck was amok!
With schools facing exsanguinating budget cuts there seemed little hope of finding summer work in the field of education. Just as I was beginning to practice saying "Would you like fries with that?" I received an email announcing a job opportunity to teach at Upward Bound's summer program at a local university. Upward Bound is a highly regarded college prep program for disadvantaged youth. The job application required a video sampling of my teaching. It was totally frightening to see myself in DVD format, but at least I sounded professional. I got called in for an interview, but it seemed they really wanted a science teacher.
The theme for the summer was intriguing: Imagine Life on Mars. I knew it would be a cool job and I really wanted it! But I had given up hope after not hearing back from my interviewer after two weeks went by and I applied for a job as a national board assessor. Then I finally got a call back with an offer of a job! I was thrilled to accept it. The very next day national board called to sign me up but I had to turn them down. Maybe I should have applied for an admin job while my luck was amok!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Why teach engineering?
Because it's fun! I've taught many different levels of math and science and even a course on conflict resolution, but I've found that teaching engineering is the best of all.
So if you're a current engineer or a hasbeengineer and thinking of becoming a teacher, check out this blog for news from the frontlines. Or if you just want to know what teaching engineering is all about, visit early and visit often.
So if you're a current engineer or a hasbeengineer and thinking of becoming a teacher, check out this blog for news from the frontlines. Or if you just want to know what teaching engineering is all about, visit early and visit often.
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