Project Mercury 2006

Update 11/18 to add images!
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Hello Everyone, actually, Hello Ashley, Hello Danielle and Hello Kate!

Sorry its been a while since posting. Today is a big day – Mercury will transit (pass in front of) the sun. I brought two telescope from home and have solar filters, so some of my classes will get to observe this happening. It won’t happen again until 2016, and I doubt they’ll be a telescope around at the right time, so let’s call this a once in a lifetime event! Its starts around 1pm CST. I hope to photograph the event, since I brought my good scope and the attachments for it. Below you can see two of the images captured that day. Around 50+ students got to see the transit.




If you desire more information you can go to spaceweather.com and see an animation of kind of what it will look like. If you make a pinhole camera/projector with a shoebox or cardboard, it might be visible. This site tells how to make a projector to view sunspots, so it might be good enough for Mercury too! SOHO from NASA should have interesting images also!

Coincidentally, there is a huge sunspot coming into view and two tiny ones already there, so there is a bonus item to try and view.

RANTING

I spent last year in a very special program to become a great Physical Science teacher. I stayed at the school where the program is at. I am a little disappointed that I have not been asked for any input about anything. I have been asked if they could borrow my portfolio to look at as an example, and I get asked if I know where something is. Actually since I knew where things were, and borrowed them to make sure they got used for educational purposes – they changed the lock!

Not only have they not asked, but the only impact I’m having out side my classroom on the instruction of Physical Science is where I have made the effort. I requested to team teach with another teacher (his 2nd year) and that seems to be working out. I’ve benefited, I learned how to use Quizdom in the 2nd week we worked together. The other impact I’m having is a fellow teacher on my floor, we taught at same high school two years ago, I’m paced faster than his class, so I often give him my labs and stuff after I’ve done them, or I actually use my off period, have him bring his class to my room and I assist with doing labs with them.

Here I am, a great resource HISD has invested in, and just like most other science equipment, they are just letting me sit on the shelf! My partners I work with in the program last year, had more experience than I did in HISD, and I guess they knew that would happen, that’s why they left HISD and went to KIPP Academy.

Then, our school is broken into communities, schools within a school concept. We meet twice a week, 90 minutes each time. What a waste, we spend the majority of the time lately discussing the kids at the bottom of the barrel, then every now and then we pick 1 kid at top to highlight, but what about that 90% in the middle – the majority, the kids trying to receive an education, what are we doing to improve their learning experience?

These words will probably come out of my mouth at the next meeting, knowing me!