Shouting Out To Connecticut Teachers. Two More Days Until Spring Break. Please Take Care of Yourself

And so the Wednesday before spring break was a success with Columbus School 6th graders transitioning from a study of ecosystems to a unit on watershed study; I'm very thankful to my Fairfield University undergraduates and our gorgeous campus for being an environmental friend. We definitely learned about water cycles, environments, the synergy between all of their parts, and our human responsibility to being good stewards of the Earth.

We had 7 incredible potato creatures designed by natural and manmade materials across our campus and our wolves: well, turkey, frog, and monster, only found 3 of the 7, meaning that 4 of the 6th grade teams designed truly remarkable potatoes adapted to their environment. The undergraduate hunters could not find them.

I was also impressed at the artistry and landscape design of both college and middle school students for the way they spent millions to develop their land, including our first ever Japanese pagoda along the watershed we created. One young man even designed a brilliant 45 million dollar dot, leaving his landscape for deer and animals to roam and do their animal things.

The irony was that while we were in session, I heard from a Bridgeport principal that the PD I was to offer to a team of teachers needed to be for 1/2 the school's teachers because the other PD presenter canceled. I had to think on my toes while working with the young people about how I could put together a 90-minute workshop in my head that could be prepared in the 30-minutes before departing the kids and heading to the school.

It's a good thing my training is as a K-12 educator because I was able to whip a quality workshop together in 30-minutes that inspired, impressed, and offered opportunities for teachers to think creativity about National Poetry Month,
promoting YA literature and thinking about the importance of playing with language.

My morning began at 6:30 and my night ended around 9 p.m. - with a short trip home to walk the dog. I earned my keep, indeed.

I'm very thankful to the School of Nursing, too, for having a gracious and beautiful space to host our environmental, scientific workshop on ecological sustainability.

The middle schools teachers an I agree, "It is wonderful to pair undergraduate students with their middle school youth." The teachers were in awe of the participation of the young people and how they held their own with the college-aged students. I fuse college-level thinking/reading with the curriculum expected of middle school - everyone wins!

And I told the teachers, I can count my successes by the smiles on everyone's faces. Learning occurred, the middle schoolers declared, "I want to go to college one day," and my undergraduates got to tune their own philosophies for education.

I'm exhausted, but yesterday was a 110% hit.