Blue Flame University

Um, guys, it's really exciting to engage with someone who is passionate about what they do! I am stoked to be a graduate of Blue Flame University. Plus, I actually know what number to call before I dig! 8-1-1' y'all! But why? Why do I know what number to call? I know because Cliff Swoape hammered essential information into my brain by explaining something that SEEMS boring to the unengaged observer and then by inviting me into the learning process. As a teacher, how do I do that? That's a loaded question, but as Cliff showed, it starts when I get excited about what I want my kiddos to know. I still have a visual imagining of the map that has the natural gas pipelines on it, and I realized that I have prior knowledge about those pipelines because my uncle works on them in Colorado. See what I just did there? I did what I want my students to do, to see something that sparks a memory or fact in their knowledge bank and build on those facts and ideas to facilitate learning. THAT is engaging their minds in order to build on something they know to be true, so that they learn in a way that is meaningful to them. I found this cool website to dig into that explains ways to discuss natural gas in the classroom: http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=natural_gas_home-basics

And... Here's my uncle doing his thing!