Life update

This past August, Ryan and I moved to Norfolk, VA where he is beginning his Ph.D. in marine biology at Old Dominion University. A few days after arriving here and finding an apartment, I was hired to teach marine biology and environmental science at one of the public high schools here in Norfolk. What has ensued has been one of the most emotionally challenging experiences of my life. 

Any teacher will tell you that your first year teaching full-time is a year from hell. This is true for many reasons, which I'll get into at a later date. In fact, I'll get into a lot of things at a later date. I have many thoughts and issues I'd like to discuss concerning teaching, our educational system, getting kids engaged in science (or in learning in general, for that matter), and so on. 

But first, I have one more semester to get through before I get to June. Wish me luck!

Another win from Colossal.

Updates have been few and far between, I know. Life has been beyond busy. More than I could ever imagine.

For now, here's an AWESOME collection of artwork made using diatoms, which are single-celled algae. They are beautiful little organisms that have a glassy outer "shell", so to speak, which gives them these cool geometric shapes.

Check it out!

This article was apparently published in September, but I didn't have time to notice it then. I just recently showed it to my marine biology class, and they thought it was pretty cool. More accurately, there were mixed looks of "what the what!?" and a lot of questions concerning how long the arrangements must have taken. There's a well-done little video accompanying the article that goes into the logistics of making these stunning pieces.

I just love it when science and art intersect. Here's a sample of the artwork by Klaus Kemp (and yes, each one of those little shapes is one cell, and the different shapes are different species of diatoms).

I'm getting married!

In under 6 months. Whoa. Way too much to do. (On top of finishing my second Master's degree...).

The Knot, which I would recommend as a good organizer for anyone about to walk down the aisle, has a cute little countdown ticker that I made and put all the way on the bottom of the page here. It's cute, right? I giggle every time I look at it.

Also, I'm marrying this guy:

And he's wonderful. Here we are on a road trip last year at the Oregon coast sand dunes.

What I'm doing now

So I am currently getting my Master's in Science Education at SUNY Buffalo State College here in Buffalo (duh). The first semester is down, and next up I have my student teaching placements and writing my Master's thesis (on top of planning a wedding... it's going to be a busy few months).

The program I'm in at Buff State is pretty awesome. It's for people who studied a science as an undergrad (or beyond, in my case) and then decided they want to teach. So my class consists of me (the marine biologist), a chemist, a physicist, a geologist, a meteorologist, and so on. We all have the science requirements needed to teach in our content areas, but not the teaching and education background, so that's what this year-long program is for.

It's very fun: lots of nerdy science things, and people like me who are excited to get kids excited about science.

Speaking of getting excited about science, here's a cool picture of sea star tube feet taken at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco:

Class assignment

I'm currently taking a class on teaching science with technology, and we have to create a blog. Conveniently, I get to just use this previously-created one! Thanks, Professor Brian!

How big are things?

I have just started classes at Buffalo State College here in Buffalo (obviously) to be a science teacher! It's a short program designed for people who already have a strong science background and who want to complete an M.S. in Education. Meaning, I'm going to teach science soon! I'm very excited about this new undertaking. One of my soapboxes concerns how students do not have an accurate understanding of what science really is, what it means to do science, and what scientists actually look like (we are not all the absent-minded professor in the white lab coat). So spending some time teaching will hopefully help turn that around a bit. 

Anyways, in one of my classes a fellow student shared this gem.

It's some more science-is-awesome stuff. And also visualizations-of-science-being-awesome-are-awesome.

Thanks for stopping by!

Waves

Every so often I'm reminded of how cool the non-marine parts of science are. I forget that sometimes, being so wrapped up in marine ecology. So here's a lovely little video, courtesy of Colossal (which I LOVE for my daily awesome art fix), brilliantly visualizing different frequencies. Enjoy!

And a link to the original article here.