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Teacher's Journal
Teaching is a great example of a shared journey. Each year is a little bit different. We build kinship and camaraderie with our colleagues and team over time. Within our classes, we intentionally build community among our students as the year progresses. The more I learn about the Iditarod, the more I come to …
When my son Andrew was a freshman in high school, he took a course called AP Human Geography that sounded really interesting to me. My curiosity was even more piqued when my next child took the same class. What is this human geography stuff, I wondered? I asked my kids about their assignments, and it …
I love how numbers can tell stories of the world around us. One of my challenges as a 2024 finalist was to write a post with lesson ideas using math. This was the night of the Anchorage Musher Banquet, and I found myself poring over the 2023 Musher Stats page in the Iditarod program. I …
On the surface, it may seem that there aren’t a lot of commonalities between dog sleds and spacecraft. After all, a sled is a structure designed for teams of dogs to pull loads across ice and snow. Spacecraft have many components including rocket engines, service modules housing life-support mechanisms, and astronaut living quarters. But there’s …
Have you ever experienced a desire to accomplish something tremendous? It’s a feeling I can relate to! To continue the September theme of “What are they Pulling?” I want to talk about goal setting and tracking. 2024 Iditarod mushers have varied goals about the upcoming race. Canadian musher Rob Cooke says, “The goal is to …
By now teachers are back in the swing of the school year. We are diving into curriculum, analyzing data, working with coaches and mentors, and planning with our teams. We have our routines established. Our lives have returned to the rhythm of the school year. One thing we do here in Texas is a silent …
A roaring noise rumbles overhead. Suddenly a jet screams through the sky, followed right behind by another one! This is a common sight and sound in my area of Houston—it is the excitement of astronauts in flight training with T-38 Talons. You may not exactly be training your students using high-powered aircraft, but teachers everywhere …
When was the last time you got completely lost in a book? I confess—for me that was yesterday. I love to read! I recharge by being alone and quiet, so I grew up filling my quiet time with amazing texts describing travel, adventure, and wonderful characters. As we enter the fall training period for young …
Welcome to my very first “Houston, We Have a Connection” post! The title calls to mind the famous line from Apollo 13 alerting mission control to the fateful explosion aboard the spacecraft. I live ten minutes from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, so this year in my role as 2024 Teacher on the Trail™, I wanted …
“There’s no place like Nome”. “Nome, sweet Nome”. “Nome is where the heart is”. There are so many sayings like these that have been tossed around, but they all ring true. There really is no other checkpoint like Nome. Nome is the end of the Last Great Race and the place where I …