The week of October 17th

It has been one week since I returned to DC from Idaho.  After being gone for 10 days, I had a lot of work waiting for me.  This post is just a random review of my week at NSF and about.

One of my responsibilities is to maintain a listing of all of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Sites for my division.  So my first task was to answer about 40 emails from Principle Investigators of REU sites concerning their update information and to then make updates to the NSF website.

I also attended a three hour briefing on Mathematics Common Core Standards and what they mean for NSF.  I talked with Steve Robinson, former Einstein Fellow and now Special Assistant for the White House Domestic Policy Council, about how rural states like Idaho will be able to pay for the Professional Development teachers are going to need as they adopt the new standards.  His suggestion was that districts think about using Title II money to develop Professional Development instead of using it to reduce class size.  He stated that research shows that smaller classroom size does not improve student achievement.  He also encouraged districts to start now on Professional Development, not wait for the 2013 deadline.

Tuesday was a meeting with Einstein Fellows to decide how to proceed on a committee for suggestions to  improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education at NSF.  That was followed by a committee meeting for ideas for NSF to become involved in National Computer Science Week.

It is not all work and no play at NSF.  On Wednesday was my division's picnic.  Because it was rainy, we stayed inside.  Our Division Director has spent a lot of time in Hawaii so we went with a Hawaiian theme with food, music, dress, and dancing.

Me with and fellow Einstein, Ann D.

Co-workers learning to hula.

Thursday was the Einstein Fellows monthly meeting.  We met at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where Director Kent Hughes lead a discussion on how project based learning could be incorporated into classrooms.  I also learned some beginning basics for using Twitter.

Friday I finished my poster for a Poster Session in the NSF atrium where Program Directors and staff are introduced to all of the Einstein Fellows.

I was a part of a panel discussion for Planning Grants for a Computing Education for the 21st Century solicitation.  I had been frantically reading proposals and writing reviews every free moment for the past week to prepare for the panel discussion.  That evening was Teacher's Night at the Smithsonian.  An evening where they open up one of the museums for teachers to come and eat and drink and check out the many tables where exhibitors displayed their educational materials.

It has been a very busy week, but then, every week is busy here.