Today was SUPPOSED to be the first full day of instruction for many schools and school systems throughout the state of Maryland, including mine. However, as noted in yesterday's post, Hurricane Irene had other ideas. Therefore, we all get one more bonus day of summer vacation. How did I spend it? Well, blogging of course...but when I'm not blogging, I'm cleaning up Hurricane Irene's aftermath in my house. My refrigerator decided to leak! I guess that's what happens when there's no power to freeze the ice. I got rid of all of the ice that was left, wiped up the condensation inside the fridge and out, and used my handy Swiffer sweeper to mop up the floor. Great way to spend a bonus day of summer vacation, don't you think?
Anyway, assuming the lights are back on, tomorrow will be the first day of school. Thousands of excited young minds will be entering the school buildings for the first time since June, just so eager to learn. As a teacher, one of the things that I have to teach is that knowledge is powerful, but it also must be earned. Knowledge takes hard work and dedication. In middle school, college and careers are not on the radar, but in reality, they should be. College look for hard workers, and businesses and jobs look for people who are dedicated and smart. Over the years, I have received criticism from parents, particularly of 7th graders seeing me for the first time, that I am "too hard" for the grade level I teach. My response to that is that they are are lucky. They have an awesome support structure to help them get ready for higher levels of education where teachers (and professors in particular), quite frankly, don't care. I know this first hand. All they care about is their research grants and making sure their lecture sections are graded exactly along a nifty bell curve. In elementary and middle school (and even in high school), teacher actually care about the success and failure of their students. It's something that the kids kind of take for granted some times. Unfortunately, the reality of life as an adult is sometimes a hard thing, and we have to prepare them for that.
This year, RSPS has been designated a STEM school (as I've noted several times on this blog). We are placing a much stronger emphasis on science, technology, and especially engineering (an aspect of science that kind of gets overlooked at younger grades). We started with the reintroduction of the science fair last year (thanks to some help from the Northrop Grumman guys), and this year we will be introducing several activities and projects for the kids to teach them STEM principles across the curriculum. I will be playing an integral role in this project. STEM principles extend beyond simply science. In today's job market, there is a premium on highly specialized, technical skills. Emphasizing STEM principles help our kids learn these specialized skills they need for success in the workplace. Many of these jobs are high-paying jobs...and how much are they paying us teachers? Nevermind...
Throughout the fall, I'll be focusing most of my blogging material on football season (I need to get on my next countdown as the season starts in less than 2 weeks) and the peak of hurricane season (Tropical Depression 12 has officially formed and is forecast to become Katia within the next 24 hours). However, I will also be infusing STEM and teaching content as I see fit. Happy school year, everyone. Only 175 more school days left until summer vacation 2012...but who's counting? :-)
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