Science Teachers Unite!

HASTI- Hoosier Association of Science Teachers Incorporated.

I spent my Thursday and Friday in Indy at our teachers convention and it was great! I got some great ideas that have already inspired me to try some new things! I found some great ideas for integrating writing and reading into my labs. This type of stuff can really help test scores; which we all want to see improve!

I also got tons of SWAG, what is swag? Stuff We All Get. S.W.A.G. When you go to a conference there is a certain amount of free-bees: pencils, pens, posters, and key chains. This stuff is fun and makes for great prizes in class. There is also some free stuff you have to work for. This requires an interest in the booths' demonstrations,explanations or sales pitch. Some companies want you to buy their textbooks next time your school gets new ones. One company gave me a sample textbook and a nice shoulder bag. Some companies just want you to carry around their brand name- I received 4 re-usable grocery bags from one company. There are colleges that want you to get your masters at their school and encourage your students to go there- Purdue gave me an entire box of pencils- we're talking 300 pencils! This was my big score on Thursday! Go Purdue! Ball State gave me a ton of Post-Its. Yea Ball State!

Well, then we get to the crazy free-bee! I have 6 student computers in my classroom for labs. I need mouse pads for these computers and made it my goal to score the free mouse pads today. So, I walk over to a technology company and ask if I could have eight mouse pads for my student computers, his reply- "how about 800?" Before I could say anything, he pulled out a big box filled with mouse pads. There was actually about 300 mouse pads in the box, plenty for my entire science department, family, friends, and other co-workers!

It was a great conference! I'm getting together with some old vb teammates tomorrow. I can't wait to have a little reunion with my great friends! Nick is enjoying grad school and has been diligently working on his research: The Evolution of Cluster Galaxies.....he's smart. Everything else around here is great.

Rumor has it warm weather is coming-- it's 11:30 pm and 45 degrees. That's warm!