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I jut received this email and I knew it was important to share it with other elementary teachers as we start this year.

To my friends and colleagues across the NSTA State chapters-

I thought I'd pass on an essay The Art of Teaching that's a very personal thank
you to teachers everywhere. We all have those very personal stories of teachers
that made a difference, and my hope was that this essay might trigger those
thoughts in the reader.

I thought I'd send this to you because I just revised and posted the essay to
go with the music video 'We've Got To Be That Light', the Symphony of Science
remix of my NSTA National Conference keynote in March.

Finally, I am incredibly honored that 'We've Got To Be That Light' video was
just posted on the NSTA home page as a Blick's pick. Very cool:) and thank you
Jacob, Tim, and NSTA - the coolest professional organization in the world!!




Art of Teaching

Best wishes for a wonderful school year:)
Jeff

ps- John Boswell at Symphony of Science and I are finishing the next video
remix of the NSTA keynote (I apparently had lots to say in SF), titled 'A Sense
of Majesty' which will be dedicated to our children - the next generation of
explorers. I'll let you know when it's up at YouTube:)

Just in case someone missed this [url=http://blogontheuniverse.org/sos ]We’ve Got To Be That Light A Gift To Teachers Across America [/url]

Kathy, I responded to this post that you also had in another forum. I don't know whether you saw my post in the other forum so I'm posting it again here. I appreciate your sharing the letter from Jeff Goldstein with us. Although I did not hear his Keynote address last spring, his music video is very moving. Actually, I showed the music video to my two pre-service elementary science methods classes last week as a discussion starter. I was very impressed with my students’ comments. I also sent Goldstein’s letter along with the website of the video to my colleagues and teachers. Thank you for sharing. Kathy Sparrow

I am just now getting a chance to view this, Kathy. Thank you for sharing! Carolyn

Carolyn, Thank you for bringing this back to the forefront. I found this presentation so inspirational. I could read it again and again. As we move towards intrducing our colleagues to the new K-12 Science Framework and eventually the NGSS , we could and should use Jeff's wordds to help us make sense of it all. KAthy

I continue to show this video to my pre-service elementary teachers and have them comment on it and discuss it at the beginning of the semester. There's a lot of positive feedback from my students. Kathy Sparrow

Kathy, I think it is a great activity for pre-service teachers. Jeff has such an important message that we need to get out there in anyway we can. Kathy

Kathy, I'm glad that Carolyn and Kathy S. both recently commented on this post, otherwise I might have missed it. Thank you so much for sharing Jeff's letter and the links to the videos. What an outstanding, but so very true, statement about teaching. Until I read the letter, I'd never really thought about it, but over my schooling I have had several teachers who inspired me to expand my knowledge and to never stop learning. These are the teachers that also inspired me to be a teacher because I wanted to share my love of science with my students like they had shared their love of learning with me. Thank you so much for sharing this article and reminding us all of how important a teacher's inspiration can be to our students! Kathy S., I'm curious to hear your pre-service teachers comments. Maureen

A new message from Jeff Goldstein. He is defintely my science guy!! :-)

May 2, 2012

To all my friends at NSTA, I really really enjoyed Indy and catching up with so many folks! If you can help get this out via your networks, that would be
WONDERFUL:)

ps- stay tuned next month for the second Symphony of Science music video from my NSTA Nat'l Keynote in San Francisco in 2011. 'A Sense of Majesty' for students. The first video was for teachers. We've Got to Be That Light the Jeff guy:)

Hey! Who is this Jeff Goldstein guy? I saw his video and I think he's dorky.

So , he's dorky? I have been called strange occasionally . He has a great message to share with educators. Do you think he might join a discussion?....??? I certainly hope so! Kathy

Maureen asked about my students' responses to Jeff Goldstein’s music video. I used it as one of my “Questions of the Week” in my pre-service elementary science methods class. Students watched (and took notes if they wanted) on the video. Then they were to write their responses to the video. They discussed their responses in their groups, after which we had a whole-class discussion. The students were very impressed. I think his message helped them feel important--especially the part about teachers needing to take the lead and foster the learning of their students. They also liked the part about downplaying the tests and focusing on learning and for teachers and students to enjoy teaching and learning.

Kathy, I think it was awesome that you used this with your preservice teacchers! We need to spread Jeff's message and what better place to start than young adults who are in training to be teachers. Kathy Said, "Students watched (and took notes if they wanted) on the video. Then they were to write their responses to the video. They discussed their responses in their groups, after which we had a whole-class discussion. " This is an excellent way to get students ( preservice teachers ) talking to each other. This dialogue is an important prequisite for them to engage in before we help move them forward to science argumentation which is talking based on evidence. Kathy, I bet Jeff will be excited when he reads about this,maybe he will even comment :-) Kathy Renfrew

It's just wonderful that the video is helping in some small way to train the next generation of America's teachers:) We had no idea when we created the video how it would be used. Folks are putting it to work in lots of creative ways.

I loved this video! As a student that is working towards becoming a elementary teacher one day, the music video was very inspiring. It makes me think again of how important a teacher's roles are and parents as well. I especially liked the part about the classroom is not a room in the school, but it can be anyplace where the teacher helps a student learn, patiently and artfully.

Angela, I so totally agree with you. We need to change our own mindset and help our students, parents, and our communities do the same. This message would work in concert with the release of the NGSS. Kathy

Oops! Pushing buttons too enthusiastically :-)