I received the award notification package last week with more information about the program. It arrived with 15 pages of paperwork to fill out and return within two weeks. The paperwork included a little more info about what exactly I will be doing over the course of the next year. Receiving the package also initiated conversation between the professor who I will be working with this summer, his assistant who has handled a lot of the paperwork so far, another one of his employees who he has assigned as my mentor, and myself.
As for the program, I will be starting in about two weeks. There are 11 assignments that I must complete between now and April, 2012, but each one has a more recent deadline to keep me on track throughout the year. The first three must be completed by the end of this school year, four more during the summer while I'm interning, and the rest between August-December. Then through the spring of next year I spend time fine-tuning my reports and preparing for the conference, where I will present my work. In addition to the assignments, I will be working full time (40 hour weeks) for eight weeks this summer as an intern at Caltech. I will also attend a one week conference in Virginia this July where I will be expected to present my research plan for my internship. I am not sure of the assignment details yet, other than what I design will be used in my lessons next school year and will link the things that I learn from the program to what and how I teach in my classroom.
I am also not yet sure what my summer internship will be about. By early summer I must submit a one-page abstract on what I will be focusing on. For the time being, my contact at Caltech has emailed me two of the most recent publications from my host professor. I am to familiarize myself with his research before my internship begins so that I am on board with what they're working on. I have read one of the articles so far. My initial reaction was that I might have gotten myself in over my head once again. I've spent the past three days overwhelmed with my road ahead, but today I overcame that and have advanced into determined mode. I am determined to fully understand this research between now and early June. I am determined to step into that lab aware of the studies, aware of the terminology, aware of the techniques. I am determined to prove to my host professor, his team of graduate students, and anyone else I encounter at Caltech that I am knowledgeable and part of their [temporary] team. I am determined to make the most of this opportunity and to become a better teacher, better student, and better individual from my experiences. Let the journey begin.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Application
I'm starting this blog as a method of updating those who are interested in this new adventure. Over this next year, I will do my best to keep my posts current about my experiences in this program.
Back in early January I came across a fellowship program offered through APS- American Physiological Society. Initially, I was searching for grants that might offset the expense of attending the national science conference which was being hosted in San Francisco this year. Instead, I came across information about a teacher fellowship and decided to apply.
The program requires a one year commitment and targets middle and high school level science teachers. The goal is to improve inquiry, equity, and technology in the science classroom. It sounded exciting and aligned with some of my personal teaching goals, so I decided to apply. I had exactly twenty days to get my application in order from the time that I discovered the program, to this year's deadline. My application contained three components: my personal information with short answers and a resume, a letter of recommendation from my principal including permission to attend a one week conference out of town during next school year, and a separate application from a college professor willing to take me on as a summer intern. I faced several hurdles here. First, I had to convince my principal of the value of this program and gain his permission to miss a week of school for the conference. He is extremely supportive of my ambitions, and so that went well. Second, I had to track down some statistics about my high school campus to include in my portion of the application. We've had a lot of office personnel turnover in the past year so that was a little more challenging to locate. Lastly, and by far the most difficult aspect, was to locate a professor. At the time, I didn't realize the amplitude of this program and so it wasn't as overwhelming as it could have been. Long story short, the closest university with participating professors was UC Merced. I was not about to commit to a one hour commute, one way, five days a week, for eight weeks. I was not about to move myself to Merced for the entire summer either. It was a quick decision to begin searching for professors in Southern California; deciding, without hesitation, to move South for the summer if I was accepted into the program. I solicited the help of the professor in charge of this program to connect me with someone he thought might work out. I was quickly put in contact with a professor at Caltech and the rest slowly fell into place.
Having to rely on two other people in order to complete my application, time ran down to the wire. I hit the "submit" button to send in my application exactly one minute before the deadline. At that point I was relieved to have it completed, not sure at all about my chances of being accepted, and not too eager to wait it out for two months until the decisions were announced. It turned out to be worth the wait, and in mid-March I received an email congratulating me on my acceptance. Since then it has been somewhat of a waiting game, still trying to understand the exact components of the program with extreme anticipation to begin.
I am back to my college ways- taking a leap and calculating the distance from midair. What I have learned so far from this experience is the value of taking risks, of setting the bar high, and of taking on personal challenges. I still have no idea where this next year will take me, but I can't wait to find out.
Back in early January I came across a fellowship program offered through APS- American Physiological Society. Initially, I was searching for grants that might offset the expense of attending the national science conference which was being hosted in San Francisco this year. Instead, I came across information about a teacher fellowship and decided to apply.
The program requires a one year commitment and targets middle and high school level science teachers. The goal is to improve inquiry, equity, and technology in the science classroom. It sounded exciting and aligned with some of my personal teaching goals, so I decided to apply. I had exactly twenty days to get my application in order from the time that I discovered the program, to this year's deadline. My application contained three components: my personal information with short answers and a resume, a letter of recommendation from my principal including permission to attend a one week conference out of town during next school year, and a separate application from a college professor willing to take me on as a summer intern. I faced several hurdles here. First, I had to convince my principal of the value of this program and gain his permission to miss a week of school for the conference. He is extremely supportive of my ambitions, and so that went well. Second, I had to track down some statistics about my high school campus to include in my portion of the application. We've had a lot of office personnel turnover in the past year so that was a little more challenging to locate. Lastly, and by far the most difficult aspect, was to locate a professor. At the time, I didn't realize the amplitude of this program and so it wasn't as overwhelming as it could have been. Long story short, the closest university with participating professors was UC Merced. I was not about to commit to a one hour commute, one way, five days a week, for eight weeks. I was not about to move myself to Merced for the entire summer either. It was a quick decision to begin searching for professors in Southern California; deciding, without hesitation, to move South for the summer if I was accepted into the program. I solicited the help of the professor in charge of this program to connect me with someone he thought might work out. I was quickly put in contact with a professor at Caltech and the rest slowly fell into place.
Having to rely on two other people in order to complete my application, time ran down to the wire. I hit the "submit" button to send in my application exactly one minute before the deadline. At that point I was relieved to have it completed, not sure at all about my chances of being accepted, and not too eager to wait it out for two months until the decisions were announced. It turned out to be worth the wait, and in mid-March I received an email congratulating me on my acceptance. Since then it has been somewhat of a waiting game, still trying to understand the exact components of the program with extreme anticipation to begin.
I am back to my college ways- taking a leap and calculating the distance from midair. What I have learned so far from this experience is the value of taking risks, of setting the bar high, and of taking on personal challenges. I still have no idea where this next year will take me, but I can't wait to find out.
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