The guy behind the lens

Thursday, May 15, 2014

HELP CREATE & NURTURE A YOUNG SCIENTIFIC MIND!

As a science teacher, I know that INSPIRATION is a critical ingredient when it comes to the success of most students. I also know that one of the greatest signs of who will be a successful student (in any field) is how much they read when they are young.

If I have a student who is an avid reader, I know he or she will most likely accomplish a great deal more than others who have minimal reading interest. The benefit of reading is obvious to me in two ways  - first, readers become more skilled at finding and synthesizing data than non readers over time. Second, readers wind up having a much broader horizon of interests because they have simply encountered a wider range of topics through reading than their non reading peers. 

Common Sense Media recently released "4 Alarming Findings About Kids' and Teens' Reading" which details where today's youth are in regards to reading - and it's not an encouraging story, but worth seeing and acting upon! 


Another great take on the significance of reading among the  young is Frank Bruni's op/ed in the New York Times, "Read Kids,Read"


Based on the above simple take on things, I am inviting YOU to help me begin to craft a collection of meaningful science related books that had an influence on you as a youth. My long term goal is to create a curated list of "science themed" books that my middle school students can benefit from when they are assigned outside reading books in my class. As part of the curating process I like the idea that they could see comments from "real people" about why a book was interesting / inspiring. 


SO - please take a few minutes and think about what "sciencey" books made an impression for you and which you think could help inspire science students of this next generation!
I really appreciate your willingness to share you thoughts in the comments below as well as hopefully passing this posting on to other friends/scientists/teachers who might themselves add their ideas. 


Thanks for taking a few minutes to help make a difference! 





John

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Springtime along the Raasch Trail




I consider myself lucky to live within an hour of the wonderful Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge that sits on the shores of Lake Texoma near Sherman, Texas. 


Click above to go to Google Maps of the area!




I started to visit Hagerman last year after years of hearing about it. However I had just not gotten up the gumption to get there. Aside from year round abundant bird life ,  and more than a dozen miles of nice hiking trails, I was immediately impressed by the warmth and friendliness of the volunteers I met there who staff the visitor center and share their impressive knowledge of the flora, fauna, and history of the area. I now happily count myself as a monthly volunteer at the visitor center in hopes of being able to give back to those of you who will visit Hagerman in the future. Before a visit, make sure to check out these two websites:

The OFFICIAL  Hagerman NWR Website - The official US Fish & Wildlife website for Hagerman. 

FRIENDS OF THE HAGERMAN NWR  website  - detailed information about the volunteer group I belong to that helps run visitor services for Hagerman NWR



Two weeks ago, I went up to Hagerman to spend the day photographing bluebirds - the Friends of the Hagerman group  has built and monitors several dozen bluebird houses which have greatly bolstered the local bluebird population over the past few years. 



I had a wonderful day taking advantage of a warm spring day capturing bluebirds busily working to capture morsels for their fledglings to feast upon. In addition, the lighting along the Raasch Trail was superb to capture the beauty of early spring growth here in North Texas. 




Please feel free to share this gem of a place with your online friends! It's well worth the visit if you're in the neighborhood!