U. Mass Conference

What a day. When I was getting ready to leave in the darkness of the 5:30 dawn, I did not realize what a tremendous experience the rest of the day would bring - but the conference at the University of Massachusetts Medical School was a great opportunity to meet and network with educators and health care professionals. Birdley actually took a back seat this time, as the focus of my panel and lesson demo was integrating health care careers into the science curriculum. I presented strategies for connecting units and every day lessons with topics in health care, and outlined the steps for implementing case-based lessons in a science course. The lesson demonstration consisted of a case study that we went over, and the questions that followed were great. It was rewarding to hear that some teachers would be taking some of the strategies I went over and using them in their classrooms. As an audience member, the conference also broadened my perspective on the state of the health care field in the U.S. and the current partnerships that exist between schools and health care institutions. I also got a nice refresher on biotechnology. Haven't seen a diagram of a plasmid in a long time! One of the most rewarding aspects was sharing ideas and networking with other teachers in between conference segments. Overall, I have to say it was a great day - professional development doesn't get much better than that!