As a first year teacher, I feel very fortunate to have gone to vast. The well seasoned teachers sharing their tried and tested lessons and activity was pure gold to the novice. I was able to reconnect with quite a few people that I met throughout my years in college. The best part about the entire experience, aside from being surrounded by the beautiful mountain and likeminded individuals, was sharing and gaining ideas to reach, engage, and inspire our students to be scientifically critical, imaginative and curious!
I originally thought that I was attending conference, with long, monotonous speakers and a numb butt. The night before the start of VAST, I realized that, I would be attending mini classes, and actually gaining useful and interesting information. Then, I got extremely excited. I searched through all the presentations offered and during some sessions I had two or three that I really wanted to attend.
I managed to go to the majority of the selected classes and get loads, and loads of free stuff! A lot of free stuff was brought back to school and distributed to my fellow colleges. So, far I have used in my class, a few posters, the burlese funnels, tree ring counting and the test generator given to me by one of the vendors. I can see that this experience has elevated the level and the number of labs I can do in the classroom.
I look forward to returning in the future years, and presenting at the 2012 VAST in Williamsburg, along with my fellow “Musketeers.”
