Journals 2008/2009

Zamaria Rocio
Horace Mann Middle School, San Diego, CA

"Marine Biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef (Heron Island Research Station)" August 25 - September 14, 2008

Journal Index: August 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 September 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 10                  11 - 12 - 13

September 11, 2008
Teaching From Overseas

For the next three days I have arranged to talk to several classrooms in San Diego county via the internet. The only problem I am encountering for me is not getting enough sleep. The reason for this is the seventeen-hour difference between here and there. So when it is 8 am Wednesday there, it is 1 am Thursday here. To alleviate this problem for me, I have been taking a short nap in the afternoon. However, as soon as you walk in the front door of my 2-room living quarters in the dormitory you are right where my bedroom is with four twin beds. To get to the bathroom you have to go through this room. Since I do not live alone, my roommates need to go into the bedroom to shower and change after their dives. So I have decided to take my naps on the beach.

My Nap Chair and the Kookaburra

Today I will be interacting with my five 8th grade science classes. I will be calling my first class at 12:15 am and I will finish talking to my last class around 7 am. My students have been in school since September 2nd, and have seen many changes at our school. The school is now traditional from year-round, 80 percent of staff is new, a new complex principal, and three new vice principals. I wanted to make some kind of connection with them, and to insure them that I will be returning.

Previously, I had emailed my substitute several times in order to set this up. I had to also email my colleagues at school to ask them to help my substitute and to get him a school computer so we would be enable to communicate. I want to thank all the people that helped make this happen. This whole thing was not an easy task and took a lot of preparation on the part of many people.

Each classroom call lasted for an hour. My substitute had the students prepare questions for me and they had read my on-line journal during class. My classes were able to see me because I had a camera on my computer. I showed them the stuffed animal (kookaburra) and talked about the kind of research going on at this field station. I walked around the laboratory rooms with my computer and showed them the specimens the scientists were finding. They sure had a lot of questions. They were amazed that it was winter here and it was dark outside. So they learned a little geography along with the biology.

Some algae specimens ready to be taken back to the mainland