A “Climate Talks” Update & Apply to Be a GTF!

With my travel schedule as whirlwind as ever, it's been hard to find the time to update this blog! However, I have two exciting things that I just had to share with you this week. You may recall that a few months ago I was a part of an exciting documentary project called Climate Talks. This …

Fat or Feathers?

How do polar animals survive and thrive in their harsh environments? There are two main methods that these animals use to stay warm in their icy habitats: blubber and fur (or down). Walruses, whales, and many seals have a thick layer of blubber insulation. This blubber is highly vascularized to insulate them from the intense cold …

How Does Antarctica Measure Up?

This week the National Geographic Education blog featured a post about my Antarctic measurement curriculum. You can also read a bit more about this topic in one of my previous posts. I hope you enjoy it!

Around the World to Antarctica

Hi everyone! I have been working on something special for you. I hope you enjoy it! This weekend I visited Toledo, OH to see the Grosvenor Teacher Fellow's exhibit at the National Center for Nature Photography. Twenty of the 2015 GTFs submitted photos from our expeditions to this exhibit, and they look great all up …

Moving Pictures

As I continue to readjust to life post-Antarctica, one of my favourite things to do has been to relive the experience through my photographs. My #antarctica365 project has been such an enjoyable experience so far, and I love having an excuse to continue to comb through the thousands of photos I took looking for the …

Back to Reality

Coming back from Antarctica is hard. You go to parties to see your friends, and they ask you, "How was it?" but you keep finding yourself at a loss for adjectives. Amazing or spectacular just doesn't seem to cut it. "Tell me all about it!" they say, but you stare at them like a deer in the …

Let’s Keep in Touch

While I'm south of the Antarctic Convergence, I am going to try to be totally present in the moment and enjoy every minute of my time there. My plan (when Internet is available) is to mostly post to my Twitter and Instagram accounts, which you can see small bits of below, or the full picture …

One Last Thing Before I Go

It's not every day that I get publicly serenaded (traffic noise and winter coughs and all), but when I do it's by my school's choir on the last school day before my expedition. Indeed, all of my bags are (finally) packed and I'm (anxiously) ready to go. But before I do, I simply had to take …

Peggy the Penguin Update

In my last blog post, I let you know about the most recent plushy addition to our classroom. Since that time, each child in the class has had a chance to take Peggy home to introduce it to their families. My hope here was for each child to build a strong attachment to Peggy, so …

Back to School

Faster than you can say "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!" it feels like summer is over and fall is upon us. Although September is an exciting time of sharp pencils, fresh notebooks, and smiling new faces, it is also a time of very little work-life balance. As teachers, we have …