Chelen Johnson
I am currently doing my unit in my Space Tech class on stellar evolution, and I have added about 2 more weeks of info/labs to this from all I have learned this year via my NITARP experience. Although I knew the basics before, and have taught them for about 18 years, I feel like I'm teaching a whole new unit and can not only go deeper with my kids, but do it with much more passion.
NITARP has been the best experience I have ever had for my personal and professional development as an astronomy educator.
Being a mentor teacher is easy because these teachers are fantastic. They're just off and running with the project.