We are one month into the new year and we are proud of the forward momentum we've had so far. With a slight lull in December, we decided to focus on teacher workshops for January, along with continuing our "Holly-Days" discount through February. So far, we've scheduled K-4th grade at one school and 2nd grade at another for February. Our calendar is looking almost full, but we still have some days left to fill to receive a 10% discount on our program.
With our very first teacher workshop planned in January, we decided to convenience the teachers and provide a specialty workshop in each of the three main counties we serve. This allows teachers to travel locally instead of having to drive an hour or more to get to one workshop in one location. This served us well and we hope to be able to do it again later in the year. We tried to find the best possible dates for each of the three workshops and found that designated teacher workdays are in line with teacher schedules.
Unfortunately and fortunately, it was a learning experience for our Director of Education. While we had scheduled a workshop for the first week of January, while students were still on holiday break, no teachers had signed up for it before January 1st. We cancelled that location, found another location on a scheduled holiday, and again recruited, with no response. We hope that we can try a third time later in the year because we know teachers will benefit from the resources and workshop time we have to offer.
The second of the three workshops yielded a total of two teachers, from the same school, different grades. We are happy to report that they are both interested and excited about implementing what they learned into their classrooms in the near future. The third and final workshop also yielded a total of two teachers, from the same school and grade. Unfortunately, both were unable to attend, yet asked their colleague to go in their stead. This gave our Director of Education an opportunity to not only facilitate but participate in her own activities!
As for locations, we are pleased with the Chamber of Commerce and will schedule another workshop there. We will also contact the other two Chambers to see if a possible workshop can be set up later in the year. Although there were two great locations we had set up, neither of them really gave us exactly what we needed to conduct a hands-on, water-based program. They also didn't provide complimentary coffee (which we know all teachers love!).
As with any learning experience, we will take what we have accomplished and build on it to make the next round of teacher workshops more efficient and more enticing for educators. We love to share our love for marine science, and what better way than to bring teachers out to learn how to incorporate these lessons into their science curriculum. It's not only our business to get kids excited about science, but adults too!
