But the dialog is not one-way at the Town Hall.  Members can ask any question, challenge any decision, and offer suggestions as they see fit.  This year offered some good suggestions about potential future convention sites, member recruitment, NABT merchandise sales, and the annual banquet, which were dutifully recorded by yours truly to be posted to the Board of Directors and added to the ongoing discussion.

The Town Hall ended with Past President Todd Carter presenting outgoing President John Moore with a plaque to commemorate his year of service to NABT.

His primary research animal is the Weddell Seal, a 400-600 Kg. penniped found in Antarctica.  They have the remarkable ability to make deep, long dives in the search for food.  Such dives last over 20 minutes to depths of as much a 2,000 ft.  They can do so because of their unique distribution of mitochondria in their muscle tissue as well as their unique capillary distribution and use of myoglobin.  Shane had us imagine ourselves driving to Wal-Mart, hyperventilating 5-6 times as  we walked to the door, then exhaling all the air from our lungs and closing our eyes as we entered the store and pass the greeter on our way to pick up and purchase our groceries, not opening our eyes or breathing until we exit the store.  Weddell Seals do that  process 60-80 times a day as they dive in search of codfish and squid at depths that collapse their lungs.

You can follow Dr. Kanatous and his research through his Polar Science 2009 project.  His presentation today was made possible by the American Physiological Society

This year I am facilitating of the selection of the Biology Educator Leadership Scholarship (BELS).  This program brings together financial contributions from NABT members and generous support from PASCO to offer a scholarship to a deserving young biology teacher in pursuit of a graduate degree (in this case “young” is defined as someone who has less than 5 years experience as a classroom teacher without regard to their actual age). To say there is a need for this program is an understatement.  There are a lot of great new teachers out there trying to make a place for themselves and their families while working to bring high quality science to their students.  Most of you reading this can probably tell stories of the sacrifices you went through early in your career and can therefore sympathize with their plight.  Some of those choices may have included delaying or not pursuing further education.  And that would be a shame for these folks, especially when you look at the quality they are bringing to the profession so early in their careers.  

I am inspired by their stories and excited about the possibilities they offer for the future.  On the whole, they are talented, resourceful, dynamic and energetic.  They are the people who will finally put to rest the old disparagement of “…those that can’t, teach”. These people can, and do, and will for many years to come.  They are another sign of the times, where a single word, HOPE, played a large part in summing up a winning Presidential campaign and prompted a shift in the mood of this country. Although times are difficult for so many, our BELS applicants included, there is hope for the future and for this profession and organization. The BELS award is NABT’s investment in this hope and through our contributions to the scholarship and PASCO’s sponsorship, it will pay dividends to students and teachers for years to come.

“This program is designed to improve the content knowledge of teachers and the performance of students in the areas of mathematics and science by encouraging states, Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), Local Education Agencies (LEA), and elementary and secondary schools to participate in programs that:

Improve and upgrade the status and stature of mathematics and science teaching by encouraging IHEs to improve mathematics and science teacher education;

• Improve and upgrade the status and stature of mathematics and science teaching by encouraging IHEs to improve mathematics and science teacher education;
• Focus on the education of mathematics and science teachers as a career-long process;
• Bring mathematics and science teachers together with scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to improve their teaching skills; and
• Provide summer institutes and ongoing professional development for teachers to improve their knowledge and teaching skills.

The Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) program is intended to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom teachers. Partnerships between high-need school districts and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts. Other partners may include state education agencies, public charter schools or other public schools, businesses, and nonprofit or for-profit organizations concerned with mathematics and science education.”

Some states award grants for three years, others award them year by year.  I’m in a state that awards yearly and this is the 5th grant I’ve directed or co-directed over the past 6 years (sometimes it’s good to be a high-need school district).  This summer our project is focused on middle school math and science and our higher ed partner is the University of Oklahoma College of Engineering and their engineering researchers. Two previous projects focused on elementary science in partnership with the OU research scientists and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and the other two awards were a partnership with St. Gregory’s University  and focused on the use of Lesson Study to improve teacher content knowledge and curriculum development.

I bring this up because now is the time when you should be looking for partners and kicking around ideas about ways you can increase teacher effectiveness and student achievement.  The average MSP grant serves 44 teachers a year, brings about 120 hours of inservice to them in the span of one year, and utilizes about $240,000.  The data on subsequent student achievement is just now coming in, but it looks like the programs are performing as advertised.  Do you work in a high need LEA?  If you don’t, do you have one in your area who might take the lead role in a partnership?  Know someone in the department of science (or math) in a local college or university who might be interested in improving the local teacher quality and thus the abilities of their incoming freshmen students?  This is just one of many funding streams that will enable us to meet the challenge of the  job we’ve been called to do. To borrow from Red Green, I’m pullin’ for ya, we’re all in this together.

Bob

But our interest in legislation should not be limited to efforts to suppress Evolution education.  Every education decision is a political decision and this is true whether you teach in or are a patron of public, private or home school.  All facets of the education enterprise are controlled and allowed through the political process.

So… What is loon season bringing to your state?  How’s this to start the discussion? In Oklahoma, a measure is successfully making it’s way through the legislature that would make all public school districts Charter School Districts.  That’s right, no state curriculum standards, no class size limitations, no due process rights for teachers, no teacher tenure, no teacher degree or certification standards…  Let me state up front that I have nothing against Charter Schools and their role within the framework of a larger public school system.  Nor do I have anything against a parent’s right to choose private or home school education for their child. But how do you think the Evolution battles are going to go when each of the 500 local public school boards in Oklahoma become the sole determiner of what will and what will not be taught in biology?  

Not that I wish any other state ill, but please, somebody tell me there is a worse piece of state education legislation being debated this year.

Bob

I am very excited to be a part of this NABT BioBlog.  We recently transformed the tired old quarterly newsletter of our state science teachers association to a blog.  Although the focus of that effort is different from this, it’s a lot of fun to maintain.

Outside of my professional interests, I enjoy fly-fishing, organic vegetable gardening, hiking, geo-caching, bicycling, and mountain-biking (although my wife says I need to stop the later because “You always come back hurt”.  She is, of course,  most often correct. Still, it’s the code of blood, sweat and gears.)  I am also active in Boy Scouting currently serving as Chairman of our local Council’s Venturing District. My wife, Fern, is a Speech Pathologist and our son is a graduate student at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.