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Educators’ Exchange
by Jody Harkrider, San Antonio ATPE member
A teacher in Paris
One ATPE member’s astronomical experience
“Talk astronomy, Miss.”
“What?”
“Talk astronomy!”
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have other objectives to meet today. Why stop now and talk about astronomy?”
“Because that’s what’s cool! That’s what we want to hear!”
Pausing, I gaze over my class, filled with students who have chosen to try again. My students, generally, are too old for their grade level, have attended many other schools and have experienced very little academic success, but to their credit they have chosen to come back and try again.
As my students start talking among themselves about stars and moons and comets, I think back to Jan. 15–16, 2009, when I attended the official opening ceremonies of the International Year of Astronomy at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. At the time, I taught at Navarro High School, San Antonio ISD’s “alternative” high school.
Contingents from almost every nation on Earth—contingents that included fantastic astronomers and physicists, Nobel Laureates, politicians, graduate and undergraduate students, and one high school teacher—met for two unprecedented days to kick off a year of celebrating the science of astronomy, a science that Galileo Galilei began studying 400 years ago with a simple telescope pointed upward to the stars.
It was the highlight event of my 30 years of teaching.
Jody Harkrider, stargazer
My wonderful journey into the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) began with the encouragement I received from a University of Texas at Austin professor to pursue an invitation to the opening ceremonies. Dr. Mary Kay Hemenway and I had noticed that teachers below college level had been excluded from the event, and she encouraged me to write to UNESCO to explain my years of promoting astronomy to my students. My letter happily resulted in an invitation to Paris.
Early on the morning of Jan. 15, I waited in line to go through security at the entrance to UNESCO headquarters on the Rue de Suffren. The weather in Paris was cold, but the atmosphere generated by the participants was warm.
The welcoming speeches began at 8 a.m. and continued for almost two hours. After a short break, we were back in the UNESCO general assembly hall for the icing on the cake: the astronomy talks. It was during the first lectures that I finally started to relax and look around at the caliber of scientists assembled. Was I lucky or what?!
My mind vibrated; I must get autographs! Maybe my students would understand my enthusiasm for this event if my program were signed by the individuals who were in their textbooks. A scribbled signature under a photograph might add real life to a real science!
My autograph decision, ultimately, meant that I had a mission. For the rest of my visit, I was a hunter searching for prey, and, for the most part, I was fairly successful. Almost everyone I asked for an autograph was congenial and surprised by my request.
The absolute highlight, for me, was meeting and talking with Dr. Robert Wilson, who, along with Dr. Arno Penzias, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for proving the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation. I found Dr. Wilson to be a gracious gentleman who spoke humbly about his career.
The two days of opening ceremonies, speeches, lectures, lunches, receptions and autograph hounding passed quickly. While sitting in the assembly hall for the final closing remarks, I reflected on the events that had snowballed me, a high school science teacher, into a passion for astronomy. I wondered if Galileo or Kepler or Copernicus or even Dr. Wilson would have been surprised at the level of enthusiasm that penetrated my personal and professional being. Laughing to myself, I summarized, “Probably ... but on second thought ... maybe not Galileo.” Given that he risked it all to advance astronomy, it is clear that Galileo was not a humble scientist, only an honest one.
Re-entry to everyday life
My return to work was met with a barrage of greetings and questions. I was prepared with IYA posters in seven different languages, CDs from a variety of projects, books, pamphlets and, of course, my autographed program of events.
My school began celebrating IYA by devoting one day a month to interdisciplinary astronomy activities. In social studies, students created a timeline of famous or infamous astronomers. The language arts department completed biographies of modern astronomers. In math, students measured the distance of planets from the sun and studied how telescopes work. The science department began with the basics of rotation, revolution and the seasons but then branched off. Biology students studied astrobiology, and students of the other sciences investigated
star formation.
After receiving positive feedback from each discipline, I came to the conclusion that the students sincerely enjoyed and looked forward to their “astronomy day.”
I overheard a student remark that he wanted to become an astronomy teacher so that he could go to Paris. Before I could intervene, another student turned and replied, “You can enjoy the sky anywhere!”
“Yep, so true,” I thought. “But I really, really enjoyed it in Paris!”
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