I have been a teacher in the Rochester Public Schools since 1994 (that makes 30 years this year). This includes my tenure as a science teacher at Century since the school's inception in 1997. Before teaching, I spent 12 years as a technologist and then as the lead research technologist in Cytogenetics at the Mayo Clinic. When my daughter (then a six-year-old) started elementary school, I had a grant that was coming to an end. Rather than continuing with clinical cytogenetics, I answered an advertisement in the Rochester Post Bulletin for a part-time science teacher position. I thought that would be the perfect answer as I could continue my research part-time until the grant was fully applied again. Little did I know that I would love teaching so much. After a year of teaching, I quit my job and became a full-time educator.
I’ve always enjoyed learning, but seeing learning through the eyes of young students is even better than doing it myself. After twelve years of working with adults, I found high school students completely refreshing and so much fun. We have had great adventures in high school and pursued everything from hatching baby ducklings to full-on DNA fingerprinting and PCR. In 2002, I became a scuba diver, and a few years later, I became a PADI divemaster. Now I was fully certified to take my students on adventures in Marine Biology! We dove on reefs from Key Largo to Australia, Costa Rica, and Belize. In the process, my students and I explored and studied marine biology at all levels.
Twenty years ago, I also started a program teaching elementary students as a fundraiser to fund our student’s diving trips. We started as College for Kids at RCTC and then morphed into teaching our own spring and summer programs. I would plan the program and then recruit my AP and honors biology students to help me teach it. The program was very successful. We taught Marine Biology (our most popular), Doctor Training 101, Tiptoe through the Kingdoms, and more. In March 2020, we were prepared to teach again but the pandemic hit and we had to cancel, now four years later we are bringing it all back.
This year the after-school class involves Marine Biology. We will tiptoe through all of the fascinating animals on the reef. In week one, we will explore salt water and sponges (the real ones living on the reef). For week two, we will explore corals, jellyfish, and squid (yup – we’re going to dissect them and then make some calamari). Week three includes looking at arthropods (crayfish will be our friend) and starfish (echinoderms). During week four, we explore the world of fish (and take a virtual scuba dive as we learn to identify them). Finally, in week 5, we will look at all the other animals in the ocean including sea turtles, dolphins, and whales.
On a personal level, I hold master’s degrees in both Molecular Biology and Education, a doctorate in Educational leadership, and am board-certified in adolescent and young adult science. I have been a PADI divemaster for 18 years, a PADI diver for twenty (and a fish enthusiast for fifty). I so hope you can join us on this final adventure. Yup – I’m older than dirt, this may be our last chance (or maybe not – you never know)! This course, for grades 3-5, runs from April 9, 2024 until May 7, 2024 at Century High School from 4:30 until 6:30 PM, every Tuesday. Sign up through Rochester Public Schools Community Education.