PAEMST Day 2

 Due to the storm that made its way across DC, most of the city was shut down including most government offices. There were only a couple of inches of snow, no where close enough to shut down the cities I live or work in, but DC is not used to that much snow or having to remove it. We were told the night before that everything would be shut down, but the offices where we would be meeting guaranteed that they would be open to receive us. The problem would be getting to our meetings since public buses would not be running so our hired buses probably wouldn't be running either. We were told not to worry about it because if that were the case, then we would take the metro! It was quite the sight to see as 102 professionals gathered in the hotel lobby wearing their nicest business attire with their dress pants tucked into boots of all shapes and sizes and a bag of dress shoes in hand. We still wanted to look nice because we were told that we would be taking a group photo with someone important, but that was all that was said even though we all knew what that meant.

On the metro with my fellow Utah awardee.

After maneuvering the metro with such a large group, we then walked a few blocks in the snow and wind to the White House offices located in the Eisenhower Building.

We had to go through two security check points before we got to the meeting room with our agendas for the day waiting for us on the tables.

Check out the last item!

We had a bit of time to wait for everyone to get through security and then change into their regular shoes. We also had to wait for some of our speakers and presenters to get there as they had to battle the snow and the streets of DC. Most of us took advantage of the following photo opportunity with a picture hanging on the wall.

I sent this picture to my friends and students, they were all impressed, but some were skeptical of its validity even though I told them it wasn't the real thing.

We had several science people talk to us about education and led a Q and A session where we got to put our thoughts about math and science education out there for all to hear. We were fed a nice lunch of a wrap and given a few cute boxes of White House candy.

After our meetings were done, we walked over to the White House. We immediately were placed on risers to get ready for our group photo. Once we were all set, Obama's OSTP advisor talked to us about STEM education and the importance of it. He went to go get the president from the Oval Office and the main guy in charge of events at the White House talked to us a little about the White House and its history. We were in the East Room for the photo. President Obama walked in and quite a few people were atwitter. He spoke to us about the importance of math and science education and then took the picture with us. Afterwards, he wanted to shake each of our hands so we each got a chance to say hello and where we are from as we shook his hand and were then ushered into the next room which happened to be the Green Room. People keep asking me what it was like to shake the president of the United States's hand, and I'm no sure how to respond. As I see it, he is just a man, but he is a man in a high office of power. It was interesting in that I'm used to only seeing him on TV or in photographs, but in real life he is three dimensional and right there. He was a nice man for the three seconds I interacted with him and his hands were big and soft. He is pretty tall, but everyone is tall compared to me.

As we waited for everyone to shake his hand, we got to look around the Green Room, which most people only get to walk through between two ropes on the tour. There were so many of us that we then got to walk into the Blue and Red rooms. We even got to look out the windows and saw the Obama children playing in the snow on the lawn.

After the president left, we were given time to look around the East Room and the front hall area. We knew we would be taking a tour the next day and that cameras wouldn't be allowed, but we were given the opportunity to take a few photos in the hall so everyone scattered and started taking photos like crazy because we knew we wouldn't be able to ever again. We were asked not to post any pictures of the residence on social media though.

As we were leaving, a runner was going by and asked us who we were as he had never seen any normal people coming out where we were. He was very impressed when we told him we were a group of award winning teachers.

PAEMST Day 1

Last Sunday, I got on an airplane and flew to Washington, DC to be recognized and honored for receiving the 2012 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). I won the science portion for the state of Utah.

I met up with my sister, Diane, at the Salt Lake City airport and we then caught plane to DC. The long flight wasn't too exciting, but we survived. We me tup with our older brother, Michael, at the airport in DC as he was going to a conference later in the week and decided to come out early as he could stay in our hotel room. We were going to take a taxi to the hotel as I had to be there for some meet and greets and registration in an hour, but the line for getting a taxi was so long, we decided to jump on the metro with all of our luggage. It was a fun experience and a great way to get our feet wet as we used the metro the rest of the week.

After checking in to the hotel, Michael and Diane walked to a local grocery store to buy a few things we could eat throughout the week before the "big storm" was supposed to come through dropping six inches of snow. While they were at the store, I was at the introductory and welcoming meeting. I got to meet quite a few of the other awardees as they had us get into groups of different numbers to introduce ourselves and then switch groups around.

After my meetings were over, Michael, Diane, and I walked across the street to McDonalds for some dinner.

Too Many Things to Remember

Ok so it's my own fault that I haven't been posting and now have lost the opportunity to write about all the neato things that have happened over the last three months. Here are some of the most memorable:

I finally got the  email letting me know that I won the PAEMST! I found out the last day of school before Christmas break, right as my class party was starting. I was so very happy that I had a group of amazing parents that were in charge of the whole thing so I could go out in the hallway to text my family before telling anyone else about it. I ended up forwarding the email to my principal and then calling him to tell him to check his email as he was one that would constantly ask me if I had heard anything yet or not. I then went down the hall and let my 6th grade team know about it. Needless to say, everyone was very excited about it for me. My principal announced it over the intercom about fifteen  minuets before the school day was over. I hadn't told my class about it at all so when he started out by just telling everyone about it and then announced that it was me, my class erupted! Of course, they also told me that I should share my money and trip with them since they were smart enough to be placed in my class this year. I still don't know when I'm going to DC, but I'm hoping it warms up a little bit more before we go.

Here is the email I received:

All,

It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been selected to receive the 2012 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.  On behalf the White House, congratulations on this extraordinary accomplishment!  The award recognizes the tremendous commitment you have shown to mathematics and science teaching.  

An official White House press release announcing your selection was issued today and is available here.

We are in the process of organizing several days of recognition activities for you in Washington, DC.  You will receive more information from the National Science Foundation once details are finalized.  Your primary points of contact at NSF will be Marilyn Suiter and Elizabeth VanderPutten (copied here), but I wanted to offer my own congratulations as well. 

I look forward to meeting you in DC.  Congratulations again on this remarkable achievement!

Best,

Fae M. Jencks

Office of Science and Technology Policy

Executive Office of the President

Also, before Christmas break, I got an email passed along by my principal to the school that the state office was looking for teachers to help with a project to create an online and print version of a science "text book"specifically for the state of Utah. They already started the project for secondary and this year they wanted to work on 3rd-6th grade. I had to apply to help out and had to make sure that I would be available for each of the days we would be meeting to work on it over the next school year. I was curious about the process and figured, if nothing else, it would look good on my resume. I found out that they accepted me and went to the first meeting the week before break. It's an interesting process finding materials that aren't copyrighted for us to adapt for our own resource. I'm going again this week to continue with everything. It's been interesting dealing with the science book process and being gone for that along with the math book selection that I'm also involved in with my school district. Hopefully, we will be done with the math book this month so I can stay in my classroom more often.

I have a new calling in my new ward! I started attending the family ward a couple of months ago and love it! Everyone is very friendly and I'm starting to get to know the people that actually live around me. A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I would be willing to teach a primary class, the 8 and 9 year olds. I figured that I would be put in with the primary, which I was excited about as it would be a new calling that I had never done before. This Sunday I will be teaching my first lesson as I have a partner that I'll be taking turns with and helping out. Old Testament, here we come!

Steven, Randi, and their two kids came out and stayed with me for a week. They had come out for a wedding of a friend. I was so happy that I got to play with my babies for a week! I discovered the importance of choo choos while they were here and our worlds got turned upside down when I discovered the choo choo undert the bed after they left. They should be getting a small package in the next week or two to right the situation.

You Might be a Math Teacher...

For those of you that don't know, I really like math.  I like to teach it, I like to do it, I like to play with it.  I was asked by my school district to be a part of a committee to select our new math text book for the next five years.  I went to our first meeting today and there were just too many cooks in the kitchen!  We basically just set up a rubric to guide us through the selection process over the next few months.  I got really excited when I found out that I'm going to have a bunch of math programs sent to me to check out over the next few weeks (it's a good thing I have a student teacher right now).

One of the things that always gets to me is when I find teachers who don't know how to do something that should be easy or common, but I have to keep that in mind while looking at all of these programs.  I know I have a pretty good brain in my head and I know how to use it to reason through concepts, but really?  I just found myself checking out some videos on YouTube of teachers teaching math concepts as that's an idea I've played with recently.  I only got through the first 30 seconds of two videos before I had to stop because I found myself yelling at the teacher through my monitor that they were doing it wrong!  Either I need to stop watching these videos or I need to get the right ones out there.

Hey Look!

Hey!  Look at that, I'm famous...ok, maybe just quoted and pictured in the university's paper...

http://universe.byu.edu/2013/09/26/1byu-students-live-their-quidditch-dreams/

It Makes Sense Now

I'm pretty into personalities and personality typing.  I find it interesting identifying the way someone thinks or acts, of course, shoving them into a "box" of a personality type isn't all black and white, but I find my types to be somewhat accurate (to a point).

On my way home from work today, I was thinking about all this and how people don't always get to know the real me.  I'm really good at putting up walls which intimidates some people and they don't venture too far down the Julie trail.  I realized that those walls pretty much come down when I'm teaching my class.  I'm quite the performer and really put myself out there.  Basically, I go from an INTJ to an ESFP.  I was telling my friend, Sara, about this and she pointed out that that is probably why I'm so drained when I get home from work and just need to be by myself for awhile.  I am definitely an introvert, but I have to play on my extrovertedness while I'm at school so I need the massive recharge when I get home.

So, yeah, if you want to see me without the walls, come hang out in my classroom.

Small Gifts

I got to school today and found this sitting in front of my computer:

A cute bag filled with candy and this note from one of my students:

(I taught her brother in 5th grade about 8 years ago)

This was something I really needed.  The last week and a half have been really hard for me for so many reasons and on so many different levels.  This weekend was kind of a breaking point for me and I ran away from home for a few hours.  I'm pretty sure this student noticed me trying to keep things together while talking to a co-worker yesterday morning.  It's nice to know that someone noticed and tried to do something about it.  Although, if she had given this to me yesterday, I would have completely lost it.  Don't worry, things are better now. I'm glad I can make school a welcoming place and that I'm so entertaining.