Three more days with my students and I will be gone. The calendar reads six days to departure, but, Saturday is not a school day and sadly, Friday is a no student day at Nicolet. Wait, did I say three days? Yes, one more day of no classes. There is school-wide testing on Wednesday and while I will be in contact with students, they won't be in classes. Sad faces could be drawn here to represent my sentiment about having so little time left with my students, but I will forgo the formality. I have a fabulous substitute teacher coming to take my place. I feel so much more at ease knowing I have someone coming in who will love teaching my students as much as I do. Shout out to Mrs. Roberts!
I have decided to journal about last few days at Nicolet. I was lucky enough to fit in an incredible fieldtrip that included a visit to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI, a beautiful fall hike to Parfrey's Glen, WI's first preserved natural site and a fun ride on WI's only free ferry at Merrimac, on a bus no less! The colors were amazing and the smiles on my students' faces told me it was a great day despite a little mist and chilly temperatures. The pictures will never do justice to our sites and I am certain they won't in Antarctica either, but it is the best I can offer!
Grey-crowned crane, imprinted on humans, ambassador for her species at ICF.
Rarest crane species in the world, whooping crane, approximately 600 exist.
Three month old Brolga crane at the International Crane Foundation.
Wisconsin's first natural protected area, Parfrey's Glen, outside of Devil's Lake State Park.
Opening of the canyon at Parfrey's Glen.
More images of Parfrey's Glen, one of the most spectacular sights in WI.
Parfrey's Glen Canyon ledge on a beautiful fall day in WI.
My APES students are also finishing up a lab on energetics through raising caterpillars. Last week, our little friends were starting to form chrysalises. Hopefully this week we will start to see them emerge as beautiful butterflies. It would be nice to end on with this. My AP Bio students worked on their enzyme lab last week and while that doesn't necessarily sound like a ton of fun, lab time is always positive. I will miss all of my classes tremendously. I find it funny how quickly students grow on you. Our class periods are only 47 minutes each day. We have been in school a mere six weeks. That is about a total of 24 hours of time. Yet, here I am thinking of their faces and knowing I will miss them over the next five weeks. I will miss teaching them about cells and transport, about biogeochemical cycles and energetics, but mostly, I will just miss being their teacher every day. I will miss seeing the light bulbs come on when they make connections and the interesting questions they ask on a daily basis. I will miss their smiling faces, their laughter and the fun of the classroom. It is tough to leave for so many reasons, professional and personal, but leave I must. I look forward to sharing this experience with my students, family and friends.
Students transferring painted lady butterfly larvae to begin their experiments on energetics.
So students, if you are reading this, know you are in my heart as I leave. I will think about you often. I will hope that you are learning and growing and loving science in my absence. I will hope that you will continue to make me a proud teacher.
In other aspects of Nicolet, it's a busy week. Between meetings, testing and conferences, I will have my hands full. I would be remiss however to not give a shout out to the entire Nicolet staff and special love to the Science Department! Everyone has been so supportive and excited for me to take on this journey. It is a great place to teach. I know my department will be picking up pieces of my absence and will do so graciously. Several have already offered to help out with assembling and buying lab supplies and this even before I leave. They are throwing a bon voyage party. They are a fantastic group of people and I am so lucky to call them colleagues and friends. Thank you's are not enough for the gratitude I feel towards these amazing people. I will miss them and all of the staff.
I think that covers it. The next time I write, I will be on my way! Stay tuned for the first of many journals to commence!
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