It's been a little over two months since I left Alaska and it already seems like a lifetime ago. I have been working to keep the networks strong that I began to build while in Fairbanks and have been living vicariously through the adventures of the other PolarTrec teachers who have already completed their trips. My students have benefited from this experience in numerous ways already. As part of our unit on Waves and Sound, we completed a Rock Band project - inspired by the work that Casey O'Hara shared in Fairbanks. Also, based on the ideas from the other PolarTrec teachers, my students now participate in a weekly "Virtual Expedition" called Polar Fridays.
On Polar Fridays, students work in teams to document the journey of one PolarTrec teachers of their choice. They have learned about each of the poles and have created a journal to track the expedition. It's been great to watch students get excited about Polar Science as they read through journal entries, search through photo galleries and "ask the team" questions about their experiences.
Two students showing off their neatly decorated polar journal.
These girls colorfully decorated the front of their journal with pictures of the Arctic.
Kiara and Jazmin decorated the back to represent the Antarctic.
The students wrote summaries of the journal entries that they read on the PolarTrec site.
My secret goal is for them to be super excited and to want to track my expedition in October. My students will have all graduated from high school and be in their first year of college life, so hopefully they all check out my polar bear adventures!
As I sit at my desk writing this journal entry, I am distracted by the amazing photos from the last group of PolarTrec, which have been incorporated into a beautiful calendar. The calendar and reading about the journeys of Deanna Wheeler, Betsy Wilkening, Tim Martin, and Simone Welch have helped to keep me daydreaming about my upcoming trip on the Polar Star!