Chelen Johnson
This virtual team collects all independent research presented in 2014, and done by NITARP or Spitzer alumni with (or without) students outside of a formal NITARP team.
Mentoring adults in these capacities [as a NITARP mentor educator] improves my ability to act more as a mentor to my classroom students, allowing them to become more self-sufficient learners. I feel this has improved my ability to mentor my colleagues as well.
The best thing about the trip was the chance to interact with others who are trying to do the same things that I am trying to do. No one else around me tries to do student research (even though I have tried to get other teachers involved), not in my district nor in any of the surrounding ones. It was great to spend time with other teachers (and their students) who are trying to accomplish the same things that I am trying to do.
Watching the students present the research we had been working on the last year was absolutely the best part of the experience for me. They made me so proud
