I'm Doing Modeling On The Weekends

I’m modeling on the weekends. 

No, it’s not what you think. I’m not posing for pictures. I’m not doing runway shows in my lab coat. I’m not featured as the science teacher in catalogs of science equipment.

I’m building models. 

I started building model kits when I was a kid - probably in middle school. I’ve built mostly plastic kits - cars, planes, ships…lots and lots of ships. 

About ten years ago, I stopped building. I have carpel tunnel syndrome and the job I had at that time made it worse. It hurt my hands to work with small parts, so I had to stop. The joy I received from building wasn’t worth the pain I felt doing the work. 

But, I've started building again. 

As you may have noticed, I’ve added a shelf near my desk. Later, I will be adding a second, matching shelf. 

Right now, I’m working on a series of human spaceflight vehicles. That’s what the shelves are for. I’m building the rockets that NASA has used to take Americans to space. I’m not building them in order but they will be displayed that way.

The first rocket I built was Alan Shepard’s Mercury Redstone. This was the first rocket that took an American into space. It was a quick flight - up to space and and back down - Shepard did not orbit Earth.

The next rocket in the progression is John Glenn’s Mercury Atlas. This rocket was powerful enough to launch Glenn into orbit.

After Mercury, NASA switched to two-astronaut vehicles called Gemini. Gemini was designed to practice all the steps needed to take people to the Moon. Gemini sat atop an even more powerful rocket - the Titan II.

After Gemini, came the three-crewed Apollo program featuring the most powerful rocket to ever fly - the Saturn V. 

After that, I’ve got a space shuttle to do and, if I can find affordable kits, the International Space Station and the new Space Launch System with Orion spacecraft. 

I’m building models again. My hands aren’t bothering me much so I’m really enjoying it again. I wish more young people were interested in building models. It’s fun and challenging. I get a real sense of accomplishment taking a box of parts and, using the included instructions, creating a miniature version of a huge ship, rocket or aircraft. 

If you’d like to try it, talk to me. I can fix you up with a kit and some glue.

The Eclipse is Coming!

The eclipse is coming!

The eclipse is coming!

The eclipse is coming!

On January 31, the Sun, Earth and Moon will align so the Moon passes through the shadow of Earth. As if that was’t special enough, it’s also a supermoon and a blue moon. What a day!

Sadly, that doesn’t all apply to us here in Lowell.

Yes, it will be a supermoon - meaning the Moon will appear a tiny bit larger than usual because it’s a tiny bit closer to Earth than usual.

Yes, it will also be a blue moon - meaning it is the second full moon in a calendar month. The first was January 2nd.

We will miss out on almost all of the lunar eclipse. The moon will be setting as the eclipse is starting so we won’t get to see much. 

Wait until January 20th next year to get the full lunar eclipse experience. It can be pretty cool.

During last lunar eclipse a few years ago, the Moon became dark, dark red as it passed through the umbra. 

It was great, but doesn’t compare with a solar eclipse - where the Moon is between the Sun and Earth. But, in Lowell you’ll have to wait quite a while to see one of those. The next one isn’t until May 1, 2079. 

You’ll have to observe that one for me, I’m unlikely to live to be 117 years old.

Revenge of the Snow Day

Oh, so many happy children. Singing and dancing in front of their TV’s.

“No school, no school, no school,” they chant excitedly.

It’s a snow day, or should I say another snow day. We’re up to six at this point and we’re just in the middle of January.

No classes to sit through, no worksheets to complete, no notes to take - just a day to stay inside, text, snapchat and play video games.  Life is good. 

But, no matter what the weather, we still need to complete 180 days of school. 

For every one of the bundled-up, whiteout conditions, never-going-outside again days of Winter we miss, we’ll be giving up a t-shirt-’n-shorts-wearing, blue-skies-and-green-grass, staying-out-until-9pm day of Summer.

Think back to the last days of our last school year at the Bartlett Community Hotbox. Windows designed to keep kids from accidentally falling out but also accidentally keep

fresh air from coming in. Fans just blowing stale, clammy air around. Classrooms so hot you feel like you’re actually melting. Sweating so bad you feel like you need a shower and it’s not even nine o’clock, yet.

Oh yes, the revenge of the snow day is real. 

Brace yourself. It’s coming

Fashion Over Function

Fashion is not something I know a lot about. It’s not something that usually interests me. I mean, seriously, I wear khakis to school every single day. But, even I have noticed a new fashion trend - ripped jeans. 

I first noticed this a couple of years ago and what I’ve seen happen over time is the rips have gotten more extreme. Now, it’s more like shredded jeans. 

I understand. 

I wore ripped jeans when I was a middle and high school student, too. I have been told these rips are somehow made so they do not continue to rip. I’m not sure how the designers do that, but I guess they have a way. My ripped jeans were done the old fashioned way - I wore them out. 

One of my favorite pair of jeans had about a 2 inch rip at the knee. It matched the 2 inch scar on my knee. I was ice skating and fell. somehow the blade of my skate sliced into my jeans and knee. Ouch!

But now, in the 21st century we buy our ripped jeans off the rack.

A few days ago, I asked a student, who was wearing extremely ripped jeans, if she wore those jeans when it was very cold out - on those days when it was below zero.

She said she had worn them on those super-cold days. 

“Were your legs cold?” I asked.

She sheepishly replied that, yes her legs were very cold.

Hmmmmm, if only there was a way to avoid that problem…

Almost Halfway There

According to my calculations, we’ve completed about 72 school days. We’re almost half way through the year.

It doesn’t seem possible, but by the end of January, we’ll be in the second half of the year and THAT’s gonna go soooo fast….you won’t believe it. 

Where are you now? Are you on track to meet your goals this year? 

If you’re on track, that’s great! Just keep doing what you’re doing.

If you’re not on track, the good news is, there’s still lots of time to get extra help and get your grades where you want them to be.

If you didn’t establish any goals, there’s still time to do so. 

I find it to be helpful to establish goals - for me, they are the things to aim for. 

I figure, if you don’t have a goal, you don’t have a direction. Without a direction, you tend to drift and let circumstances guide your life. It’s a very passive way of being and leaves you open to going in directions that you do not choose. 

For me, it’s better to put a stake in the future and figure out how I’m going to get there. I like to establish milestones - little goals along the way. Keeping my eye on that goal helps me avoid getting bumped off track and, more importantly, if I do end up off track, I can see how to adjust my path to get to the goal. 

Maybe your goal is to go to the vocational high school, or the LHS Latin Lyceum. If you don’t already know what it will take to get there, you should make an appointment with guidance and find out. 

Having a goal provides structure and direction to your life. That may sound boring or too grown-up for you, but having a goal doesn’t mean you can’t be a kid and have goofy fun, it just helps you get to the next step you want to take. It puts the control in your hands.

So, where are you? Are you on track? Need help setting goals? Need help getting back on track? Talk to your teachers. We’ve all done it and helped others. We can help you, too!

Doing My Happy Dance

I’m doing my happy dance.

I’m done, finished, completed. It’s a wrap.

I have fulfilled the requirements of the on-line course I have been taking since August.: DataStreme Atmospheric Studies

Here’s the course summary:

DataStreme Atmosphere is a 13-week course offered twice a year to selected participants nationwide. Directed towards middle-school teachers, but open to all K-12 teachers, DS Atmosphere is designed to enhance public understanding of the atmospheric portion of the Earth system and its interaction with people. The course utilizes electronically transmitted environmental data and learning materials, including text readings and related investigations. Created and sustained with major support from NOAA, the DS Atmosphere course has a strong leadership component and is designed to be the initial step in the training of Weather Resource Teachers across the nation. Successful participants will become their school’s representative as part of a national science education program conducted by the American Meteorological Society.

So, the whole time I’ve been teaching this school year, I’ve been a student as well. I had assignments, readings and home work to do. I’ve had projects to complete. 

This was a graduate-level science course about weather and the atmosphere - it was hard. The topic is ridiculously complex. The readings are dense. The chapters were long. The assessment process was tedious at best.

The assessment process consists of two projects:  A complete lesson plan; and a written plan of how I’m going to share my new understanding of weather and the atmosphere. 

Oh, and sixty quizzes. Yes, you read that correctly - sixty quizzes. 

Trust me, when I schedule a quiz, assign a reading or give out homework and hear the whole class groan, I feel your pain. I understand, but it’s for a reason.

There is simply not enough class time to learn all the things we need to learn, so we extend that learning time with additional work at home. We need to understand what you have and have not learned so we can move on or reteach a topic. 

But, think how good it will feel when you're done. 

Then, you can do your happy dance!

Perfect Circles

I can make perfect circles on the white board. 

Really, it’s my secret talent. 

It comes in handy when I teach phases of the moon, seasons, use venn diagrams etc.

I don’t know how to teach anyone to draw perfect circles, it’s just the way my shoulder works.

I suppose I’ve had this unique ability for my entire life but It went unrecognized until high school. 

One day, I was sitting in Mr. Borigine’s trigonometry class and I was making snarky comments about his inability to draw a circle (of course, the word “snarky” had yet to be invented, but that’s what my comments were - snarky). Even when he used a giant compass, his circles came out egg-shaped. 

I was feeling pretty full of myself. I was editor of the school newspaper, had recently founded the school astronomy club and was coming off a year of geometry where my average was a cool 104 (I almost always got the bonus question on the tests).

So here I was, sitting in the back row of math, feeling very confident and making fun of my teacher’s egg-like circles when he suddenly stands upright and slowly extends his arm towards me. He was holding a piece of chalk (white boards had also yet to be invented). “If you think you can do better, Mr. McKellar, please come draw us a circle,” he said with a sneer in his voice and a tilt of his head. 

Uh-oh, busted. 

Now I’ve got to draw an eggy circle and everyone, especially, Mr. Borigine, will laugh at me. 

Slowly, I rose from my seat, hoping the bell would save me from my impending doom.

No such luck. 

I took the chalk from his hand, as if it were kryptonite, and in a single swing of my arm and shoulder, drew a perfect circle on the board. 

There was dead silence in the room. Especially from me, because I was expecting to have completely humiliated my snarky self at that point. 

I had drawn a perfect circle on the blackboard. 

I was stunned, to say the least.

Mr. Borigine was stunned even more than I was. 

Finally, after a long pause, he said “Okay, McKellar draws the circles from now on.” 

And so it came to pass. When Mr. B needed a circle, he’d call on me. My magic shoulder and I would draw him a circle…and they were always perfect.