Professional Interests

National Board Certification

I have recently taken two years to complete the process of becoming a National Board Certified Science Teacher.  It was the hardest task I have ever taken upon my myself to complete in my professional career.  Several times I almost gave up, since the program itself is completely voluntary.  In fact, since my district does not offer much in the way of a monetary reward, many of my colleagues were constantly negative about the process.  I have never encountered a program that caused as much self-reflection as the NBCT process does.  It was for that fact alone that I decided to continue - even after I failed to get certification on my first attempt.  I am a better teacher because of the NBCT process. If you wish to know more about the process click here: NBCT

Science Teachers of New York State

I have been a member of STANYS for almost twenty years.  During this time, I have gone to the state and local meetings and learned much from my science colleagues.  In 2007, I decided to give more than I received and I became the Physics Subject Area Representative of our local Central Western Section.  I presented at the State Convention and will present more in the future.  If you have ideas how I could help more of my physics colleagues, I would love to hear from you!  Just email me HERE.  If you wish to know more about STANYS, just click HERE.  If you are interested in our local chapter , here is the LINK or look at our newsletter.

CIPT

During the summer of 2007 I attended a two week course taught to high school physics teachers - The Cornell Institute for Physics Teachers.  IT turned out to be one of the most pleasant and interesting post graduate courses i have ever taken.  I highly recommend applying and taking the class.  Plus I got a stipend to spend on classroom materials that connected to the work and labs I took part in.  Getting "free" stuff is always a major plus!!  Now I can borrow lab equipment from their lending library and am having a great time with the materials along with my students.  I look forward to participating in more of their "graduate programs" for teachers.

The Exploratorium

Probably the most important professional development in my early career took place the summer i attend the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute.  This one month program changed my life.  I was already interested in and practiced inquiry in my physics class.  However, the Exploratorium was able to show me much more than I thought possible.  During the month long program I got to attend workshops on hands on inquiry based activities in all parts of physics but with a major emphasis on light and sound.  My classes have never been the same.  Students are continually asking AND answering questions without my help in most cases.  Students learn to learn from each other and from performing experiments that are simple and easily repeatable in and out of the classroom.  If there was only one professional development program you could attend as a science teacher, it should be the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute.

Inquiry

This topic is so important to me that I have created several pages on it.  If you are interested in Inquiry as a method to teach science just click HERE.