Global Warming

Imagine spending your summers on a familiar beach; a place you grow to like and begin to build memories with. You might make new friends there, spend hours relaxing or reading, and at some point buy a house very close to that beach because you feel at home there. Then a flood. Your beach no longer exists, your memories have been washed away and your home has disappeared forever.

Shores will be covered and new shores will appear. Many homes will be lost, some islands, even countries, will disappear. Our geography will change as we know it and earth will even look different. A lot of our civilization will be lost. But those are only the physical changes. Chemical changes will also occur such as changing sea water salinity which in turn will affect all aquatic life. Some organisms will die, others will thrive and the natural balance will be compromised.

An important question would be: How can we save our earth before it is too late? Is the damage too extensive or can we still reverse it? And most important, what if it is too late, what can we do to prepare for this 'change'? Human are very adaptive, so can we adapt to this one?

A lot of these questions must be answered if we are to survive.

Science Journal Blog

I enjoyed analyzing my lesson accroding to the 5 E's method. It is a well rounded and simple system that fulfills the criteria of a good lesson plan. By going through the process I noticed that I have already been applying these steps but perhaps in a different order and under other headlines. This is another simple form to get organized for proper planning and effective teaching.

I also liked the lesson plan format. While it was extremely detailed but it was thought provoking because it really got down to the roots of the lesson, its objectives, and its effectiveness. The only downside is that it was too thorough and would be challenging to find time to apply this template for all lessons taught. But another idea is to use it to plan chapters or prolonged lesson plans divided over a week or more. That way it would be time friendly as well as useful. It was a great skeleton though.

I have also sent a copy of this template to my staff members and administrators. I felt it was a good way for self, and peer evaluation. By adding a score system this can create a good rubric for annual assessments of teachers' performances, and it can also serve as an outline for benchmarking.

Divers

I am now in the Red Sea and cannot believe how many people are learning to dive daily. It made me wonder how necessary it is for a scientist to acquire that skill. Be it a marine biologist, a geologist, a botanist, an archeologist, or any other branch of Science, they almost always need to make a dive and explore. Other like engineers setting up petroleum stations or drillers, and people building tall towers in the hear of the sea, must also learn to dive to explore and plan.

I was afraid to do it once, but now I am encouraged and inspired by all those who have paved the way. It really is beautiful down there and well worth the dive.

I am on my way to Sinai for a family trip... I hope all goes well!

I am a new blogger I suppose, so it might take me some time before I get the hang of it, but thanks to my master's program I actually started one earlier on. I have to make it a habit to keep it up though and I do hope it becomes useful to others. I will begin by sharing my daily experiences as teacher. I Just feel strongly about sharing our moments because I know that is how I learned to teach.