I will be now into the third week of school with my students, and continuously go back, with some nostalgia, to this summer and what a incredible experience it was. I learned so much about Paleontology, about prehistory, evolution, and the past itself.  I never thought I would get so into learning about fossils, geology, and all those topics that were not too linked with me before this summer.  But now, I have jumped into prehistory, together with my teaching team,  and feel comfortable teaching about this topic. And more than comfortable, I now feel empowered as a teacher; I feel that I can do anything in teaching and take greater risks in making my classroom a better learning environment. This empowerment has brought greater joy in teaching and in doing a better job. I feel I can teach anything to my students, and that they are capable of learning through the classroom experiences, as they make progress in their academic growth. My goal now is to transmit this empowerment feeling to my students, so that that feel they have the power and potential to learn anything they want.

At school we have started our first trimester expedition, where our 6th grade students are learning about the past (prehistoric times) ,and how we learn about the past. Through our lessons, and have seen how our students are building up in knowledge to be ready and prepared for the “shark teeth lessons” I have designed. My team teachers are supporting me 100% of the time, and we are making plans now for our field trips to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and to Aurora.

This journey , that started this summer, continues as a very positive learning experience now at school.