Saturday 18 April 2009
What am I doing here on this trip? It turns out I’m only beginning to find out myself. The Toyota International Teacher Program (TITP) is a fully funded professional development program for U.S. secondary school teachers of all subjects. I became aware of the program last fall when the call for applications was published in the Anchorage School District’s Science Bytes newsletter. I was lucky enough to be accepted, and here I sit, in Miami, FL on this sunny 85ºF Saturday afternoon.
TITP began in 1998 when the first cohort of teachers traveled to Japan for an intensive two-week study-visit designed to increase cultural awareness. Trips followed each year to Japan for the next nine years before it was expanded in 2006 with a program to the Galapagos Islands, and again in 2007 with a program to Costa Rica. These programs focus on themes in sustainable resource use, biodiversity conservation, and environmental stewardship. I’m traveling with 24 other teachers from around the country will give me the opportunity to participate in site visits, discussions, lectures, and hands-on activities in Costa Rica. I hope through this program I’m able to bring back to my classrooms a commitment to environmental stewardship and a sense of global connectedness in Begich Middle School and our Anchorage community.
Seems a bit odd to be hitched here to my computer as the sun is shining so beautifully outside my hotel window…until later.
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