Out of this World!

by Dianny

This past February the Charter Corps program ran a space camp for the week of February vacation for students at Highlander Charter School. The camp started at 8:45am to 3:30 pm and the curriculum was hands-on for grades K-8th. There were 4 classes: math, literature, science, and art for grades K-4th and an independent study for grades 5th through 8th. It was out of this world and the ultimate space camp experience! If you don't believe me, ask any of the 30 students who attended the Charter Corps' Space Camp.They would all agree that the week was full of fun learning and hands-on activities in all of their classes. It was an enthusiastic, fun, and positive environment for all, including the teachers! I had so much fun teaching my 2-4th science classes and assisting in the math classes, we did experiments everyday and the students were always eager to find out what the day's experiment would entailed.

At first, I was a little pessimist about the whole outcome of the week because I was coming to an unfamiliar environment with children whom I had never met before, I had heard stories of misbehavior for the previous year's camp, and the grade level I was initially teaching was changed a week before the camp started. I was in panic the first day; I was shaking and the palms of my hands were as cold as two blocks of ice but luckily for me (and the kids) as soon as got in front of my class all that panic and anxiety went out the window. I loved teaching science more than what I thought I would because I was able to incorporate literature, math, astronomy, physics, and chemistry, and do hands-on experiments. The kids made all this possible, students are the core of a teacher! There's no bad student; the one I thought would be the most antsiest, I made him my teacher's assistant. One day I had Mr. Julius explain the role of gravity on our planet's orbit around the sun. Guess what? He did an awesome job of explaining the concept and he had an outstanding performance and delivery. So now you know, if you have that antsy student give him/ her a job that would keep him/her busy and both of you happy!