SCP Year-End Celebration

Science Teaching Fellows (STFs) and partner teachers from the Scientist in the Classroom Partnership gathered at the Martin Professional Development Center on May 10 to celebrate the end of a successful school year. Teachers and scientists reflected upon the day they met almost a year ago and compared it to their close relationship after a year of commadarie in the science classroom. Each team developed and maintained a productive partnership to enhance the classroom and the science instruction.

Teachers presented a memory book to their partner scientists consisting of messages written by their students along with illustrations depicting favorite labs or a portrait of the scientist. Each teacher thanked the partner STF for their role in creating an exciting learning environment for students. Teachers related their experiences with a scientist in their classroom stating:

• "Having a STF in the classroom made it the best year of my teaching career";
• "The students really looked forward to the day the scientist was in the classroom";
• "The students expected an exciting day because the scientist would bring cool experiments to class"; and
• "The scientist was a natural teacher. The students were memorized by the lessons."

STFs thanked the teachers for all they learned though their experiences in the classroom. Fellows agreed they learned:

• The importance of being patient;
• How difficult is to be an effective teacher;
• To remain calm when experiments don’t work the first time;
• How to feel confident speaking in front of a group;
• To admire the skills teachers possess that help them be successful; and
• More about myself.