THE
TCES 12th ANNUAL SCIENCE LEADERSHIP SYMPOSIUM "Educating Diverse Learners for the 21st Century Through STEM Activities" Spend a week-end exploring Science, Technology, Engineering and Math activities for your classroom. |
| Imagine the salty air touching your face and the sound of the waves as you walk from your suite to the hotel lobby to join colleagues from across Texas for breakfast at Port Royal Resort and Conference Center, the site of the 12th Annual TCES Leadership Symposium held on January 16-18, 2009. This Symposium is designed to bring together educators who focus on science education at the elementary level. | |
| About
sixty-five members from Fort Worth to McAllen, and from Beaumont to El
Paso, overcame budget cuts and repercussions from Ike to attend. TCES
founder and past president Barbara Ten Brink presented information about
the revisions of the Science TEKS. Barbara Taylor from the DANA Center
led teachers in discussions and activities about Professional Learning
Communities and engaged participants in designing a plan for implementing
a science leadership role at the school, school district, regional, or
state level. Under the direction of Vanessa Westbrook, TCES Treasurer
and Symposium Co-Coordinator, these designed plans for leaderships were
collected and will be sent to attendees on the first of February as reminders. Two “make & takes” gave teachers ideas for their classes. Friday’s “Math Mania” was led by Tracey Ramirez and Kathleen Porterfield, and Saturday evening’s “Share-a-thon” was presented by Mabank teachers, both of which gave teachers excellent resources. A combination of concurrent sessions, small group discussions, and a field experience offered participants opportunities to learn how to integrate STEM activities into their elementary classrooms. Three informal science institutions: Texas Memorial Museum, Texas State Aquarium, and University of Texas Marine Science Institute engaged symposium participants in workshops, hands-on investigations, and a marshland nature walk. John Williams, Texas Marine Educators Association president, hosted our visit to the Marine Science Institute. The new Wetlands Education Center was awesome! Symposium members learned about the dream that led to the Wetlands Center, toured the educational facilities, and participated in activities. They then had time to gather specimens at the beach! Texas Council of Elementary Science has been incorporated for over 25 years. The organization is one of five elementary science focus organization in the United States; one of two elementary focus organizations with a current website, professional development activities , and an associated group of the National Science Teachers Association. The membership is rich with presidential awardees, state and national leaders from the science education area, and a membership list that includes informal educators, university professors, master teachers, and educators who work with students from Pre-kindergarten to college level. The membership is diverse with educators from across Texas who represents the ethnicity, geographic areas, and years of experiences (students teachers to 30+ year veterans). TCES has an award winning website, a quarterly newsletter for the membership, and popular yearly publication, Hands Across Texas (H.A.T.S) which provides classroom tested activities and investigations for the teaching and learning of science. |
 Math Mania |
|
 Discovering Science and Math Websites, Roberta Marshall |
 Texas Fossils...Can You Dig It Christina Cid, Texas Memorial Museum |
 Science and Tecnology in Literacy Deborah Rang, ESC XIII |
 Developing a Leadership Plan |
 New
Wetlands Center, UT Marine Science Institute |
 And...the food was good! |
