Six weeks have flown by since my last update, and now I have just 2 months left of my fellowship and time in DC. It has continued to be an awesome and enlightening learning experience, but I am ready to come home. Much as I have come to love it here, the returning humidity reminds me why I would have great difficulty being here permanently. I am a cool weather person at heart!
The spring has been absolutely gorgeous though! Flowers of all kinds in bloom everywhere, (unfortunately, so are my allergies!) The White House Garden Tour got us up close and personal with the tulips and the West Wing!
The very last week in April and 1st week in May was filled with events honoring the Presidential Awardees in Math and Science Teaching. All of the Einstein Fellows were invited to all of the events, the most exciting being the formal dinner at the State Department, where we saw the desk that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration on, and the Original Treaty of Paris! There are beautiful antiques everywhere and even the men's and women's lounges were sites to see!
Earlier in the month, I was a presenter on a Senate panel on Nanotechnology in Education for Senator Wyden, and I later had a quick meet and photo op with him. He is much taller than I expected!
May has been busy in the office with what is now my normal work, and outside briefings and panels continued as well.
I did a presentation on what it is like in the classroom with my Einstein colleagues at the U.S. Dept. of Education, attended several STEM panels and technology events, and served on another panel at NSF for the IGERT program.
I continue to meet folks from Oregon here in DC that I would never meet in Oregon! Hopefully these contacts will result in some cool partnerships for LCSD when I return.
This past week, Betsy Wilcox and Tom RInearson came into town for the Einstein Fellowship Poster session and reception. Betsy came a few days early, and she and I went to the Capitol Memorial Day Concert, where we saw Gladys Knight, Gary Senise, Sara Brightman and Idina Menzel.
On Friday, we had our last Einstein Professional Development day. We went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD and were given a tour and a 3 hour ship ride, 4 miles out into the Chesapeake Bay, where we conducted some water quality testing. We toured the chemistry and physics labs at the academy. The oceanography professor who took us out on the boat runs The Maury Project, where middle and high school science teachers come to Annapolis for oceanography professional development in the summer, so he gaves us a taste of what the summer program teachers do, and now we all want to do the project!
Don arrived Friday evening for a quick weekend visit. The weather is turning hot and humid with thunderstorms, but we managed to BBQ out Friday night. Saturday we had a neighborhood gathering for brunch and then went out on a "date" to dinner and to a really cool event: Artomatic. Each year in DC they take a brand new high rise, office building that is completed but not yet occupied, and fill it with an art show for 3 weeks. 12 floors of all kinds of media, with entertainment, and the winners of the Washington Post's "Peep Show." These are diorama's made of Marshmallow Peep's. Yes! Very funny!
So, now Don is on his way back home, and I am really feeling blue...ready to come home and be with him all the time, and see all my family and friends as well. I still have work to finish up at NSF, but am already starting to plan and teleconference with folks back in the district. I will be the Project Director for our Oregon Mentor Grant now, along with other duties of my new position as a TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment.)
I am also off to Albuquerque next Sunday, June 8th, for 3 weeks to go back to the DOE ACTS program (Department of Energy Academies Creating Teacher Scientists.) If you go back in this BLOG, you can read about my experiences there last summer focusing on water science topics. This summer, we focus on Alternative Energy, and I will be likely working in a research lab on hydrogen fuel cell membrane research.
So, I will do my next BLOG in a few weeks from Albuquerque! Then, when I return to DC, July 1st, I go back to NSF for a week before going to Mexico to attend the International Mathematics Congress in Monterrey. I will spend my final 3 weeks back in DC with Patty Hunter and Evelyn Smith coming to visit, and Don will come the last few weeks to hang out and help me get moved home on the 31st.
It has been a great experience, and as it winds down to the end, I am a little sad to be leaving this wonderful city and the people I work with at NSF. I hope you all have had a great year. I really encourage my colleagues in science and math to apply for the Einstein Fellowship next year, as well as any of the outstanding professional development programs out there for teachers. I will share much more of my year when I get home- in person.
See you all soon!
Ruth
It is hard to believe that 10 weeks have passed since I last updated the DC BLOG! Time is going by rapidly, and though I am continuing to have a wonderful experience, I am looking forward to coming home in 3 1/2 months. Life here in the Capitol is busy and, at the same time, routine. I have really gotten used to walking and metro-ing everywhere, and know it will be a big adjustment for me to go back to driving long distances everywhere in Oregon. I am surprised at how much I am enjoying city living,
So, what have I been up to these last few months? Well, in February, I went down to Jefferson National Accelerator Lab for a tour of the facility and also to help out the the Virginia Regional Science Bowl.
I also spent much of February and March traveling, so if I have not spoken much to many of you, it's because I have been on the road...or in the air! I went to Portland for a home visit, to Boston for the AAAS Annual conference, DC for the Triangle Coalition Conference, Seattle to a technology conference where I met up with LCSD folks, another tech conference here in DC, and finally back to Boston for the NSTA conference, where I presented 3 sessions. Whew! Very busy few months.
And, while jetting the country, I was continuing my work as NSF on grants management, Broadening Participation workgroup, and attending some very thought provoking and enlightening panels, briefings and hearing here in town.
Just to give you an idea of a few: a House Physics Education Summit, several forums at the Carnegie Institute on education reform, No Child Left Behind, Teacher Quality and Professional Development, and several Nano technology events during Nano Days, including a premier of a new PBS series on Nanoscience called "The Power of Small" which you can all see on your local PBS stations in May.
All of the Einstein Fellows were also invited to lunch by Congressman Mike Honda of California, who is a great person. He is a former high school science teacher so he really "gets it!"
I also met with staffers from Congresswoman Hooley and Senator Wyden's offices, where I had a chance to offer my "teacher perspective" on education issues. One thing I have gained this year is a perspective on the complexity of our federal system, and how difficult it is to effect change on a national level. I have also learned that our congress people work very hard to represent us in this complicated system, much harder than I ever imagined! Every minute of their time is planned out and accounted for, and they are tired!
Around the middle of March, the current fellows hosted 27 applicants here to interview for next years fellowships in DC. We organized some DC tours and gatherings at current fellows homes, and tried to give them a bit of an idea of what to expect if they are chosen. It was rather bittersweet to think that just over a year ago I was here for interviews myself, and that my own experience would now be winding down. There is bit of "Potomac Fever" that I think most people get after being here, and I would certainly think about returning some day!
I've been able to see Don pretty regularly the past few months, in Seattle and Portland, and for 10 days during his Spring break He came to DC on his birthday and got to come spend a day with me at NSF and see where I work, He was also present for a presentation some of the Fellows did at NSF, and then spent a few days touring on his own and meeting me after I got off work. We were very lucky when he was hers that my next door neighbor gave us preview tickets to the new NEWSEUM, a fabulous new museum about the news on Pennsylvania Ave. on the National Mall.
The weather has definitely turned to spring and this week is the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The trees were just starting to blossom when Don was here; now they are in full and beautiful.
It is definitely the best time of year to be in DC. Unfortunately, it will soon get hot and humid, and then I will be dreaming of the cool, Oregon Coast.
I hope everyone- friends, family, colleagues and students- is well and happy. Please drop me an email or call me to chat! I will try to do another update in May. See you all soon!
Ruth
Hi Everyone,
So sorry I haven't updated the BLOG for so long! 6 weeks have come and gone since I last updated you on my DC adventures, and of course, during that time I spent almost 2 weeks at home. I was able to visit with many friends and relatives, and it was great to be home and see everyone, but that now seems like a long time ago.
The 10 days before Christmas were hectic at NSF as we were focused on getting in all the IRES proposal reviews. Since the first of the year, my work has been primarily aimed at representing the Americas group on the internal IRES panel, and it is all very interesting and a great learning experience for me. I am continuing to have wonderful opportunities to go to briefings, panels and symposia on "the hill" and places like The National Press Club and AAAS on a myriad of education topics. The greatest focus in DC right now is on America's competitiveness with Asia and with teacher quality in STEM disciplines and how it affects student achievement. Much research is being conducted on how to improve teacher professional development, teacher quality and student learning.
Coming up in March, my directorate, OISE, is presenting a 2 hour briefing on what OISE is/does to the Director of NSF, Dr. Bement. Everyone is quite nervous and working to make this an impressive event. I have turned out to be the "point man" on helping everyone in with their Powerpoints! Hopefully, I won't be remembered just as the PPT animator girl....but at least I am contributing!
Megan was here with me for a little over 2 weeks, from Jan. 4th-22nd, and we had a great time. She got to see all the usual sites, and then Don came and joined us over MLK weekend and we went to Mt. Vernon. George's home is quite interesting and I plan tp go back in the spring when it is warmer. Megan was also lucky enough to be here when we Einstein's were given a White House, Supreme Court and Capitol tour. All very cool, and we even got to ride the underground subway that connects the House and Senate offices to the Capitol itself.
One of my fellow fellows also had his college age daughter here while Megan was here, so the two of them hung out a bit, and over a weekend we all went to NYC. We had a blast! We took a $35 round trip us and stayed at a real flea bag by Madison Square Garden, but had so much fun. We saw RENT on Broadway, went to Ellis Island, ate midnite dessert at Carnegie Deli, went to the top of 30 Rock, and window shopped in SOHO and Greenwich Village. We also met our friend, Bryce Clark, from Waldport, for coffee. He is a nurse at Columbia-Cornell and loves it in NYC. We had fun, but I actually like DC better! It is like a small town compared to NYC!
I also spent some time with Cheryl, from Oregon Dept. of Ed. Science person. She was at NSF for some meetings and workshop, so we had dinner one night. It is so strange to make more connections with folks from Oregon while I am here than I did when I was back home....I have had several wonderful opportunities open up , as well as several coincidences and interactions with folks that are like "6 degrees of separation...."
I have some great photos I will upload tomorrow, but need to get to sleep right now. I am taking a Spanish refresher course 2 nights a week and have a midterm presentation to do next week...
Until I post photos and next BLOG, I hope all is well with all l of you! Drop me an email and come for a visit! Happy 2008!
Ruth
