I am pleased to inform you...

I just love when I get a letter or email that starts out like that!

Last month I got an email about various summer progrmas being offered for science teachers, one of them was this one at McDonald Observatory , so I applied due to my new found interest in astronomy after a visit to the same location during another teacher event at Fort Davis in 2005.

I got an email Sunday notifiying I was accepted!

I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted as a participant in the 2007 McDonald Observatory Teacher Professional Development Program.Your NSF and NASA EPO sponsored workshop, 'Age of the Milky Way' will begin at 3:00 pm during the dates 7/6/2007-7/10/2007. Sponsor funding for this workshop provides for your hotel accommodations, meals, instructional materials, tours, and classroom activities. You will only be responsible for paying your transportation costs.

Is this sweet or what! Here's the description of the workshop:

July 6-10: The Age of the Milky Way
Recommended for Grades 9-12
30+ SBEC credit hours
Learn how astronomers measure the age of our galaxy, the Milky Way in this advanced five-day/ four-night workshop. In addition to instructional activities designed for the grade 9-12 classroom (with links to IPC, Chemistry, and Physics), all participants will have extended observing opportunities on the 0.8-m research telescope. Preference is given to applications accepted from Texas, Delaware, Arizona, and New Mexico teachers, and to teachers who have previously participated in a McDonald Professional Development Workshop. In your application, please indicate your experience with astronomical observing (not required).

So there a week of July taken care of, and I'm doing a week as the MASTER CHEMISTRY teacher in June at UHD, training the preAP Chem Teachers. If you check June last year, you'll see when I went.

Tons of professional development hours for me!