By Carmela Jones, MNS
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” -African Proverb
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! I woke up to my cell phone chiming the next morning.
“Hello,” I said as I answered the phonecall.
“Carmela, come over to our apartment tonight. We’re going to write up our charter.” It was Patrick Daisley, a colleague and fellow ASU graduate who taught high school
science in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington state.
“Patrick, what are you talking about?”
“I did it. I registered us as an organization.”
“Wait. What? Patrick, what have you done?”
“We exist. We are the American Modeling Teachers Association, the AMTA.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, come over tonight. I invited everyone who’s still here in Arizona.”
I hung up speechless as I attempted to process what Patrick had said, even more so, what he had done. The words repeated around me until it got smaller and disappeared like a mist vanishing into thin air. I’d find out what the heck was going on tonight.
It didn’t come soon enough, but when it did, I walked the mile to Patrick’s apartment. We called his Commons the “Taj Mahal” because it was fancier than the other Commons. He and his roommates had a much bigger living room than we had. By the time I arrived, there were more than 20 people there. The couches and dining chairs were full; most everyone else claimed a space on the carpeted floor. That’s where I positioned myself. I had a pen and notebook ready just like everyone else.
Patrick had the AAPT (American Association of Physics Teachers) articles printed. There were enough copies floating around so that we shared. We used it as a template. I knew almost everyone there through the program. Patrick led the meeting as we worked to complete the new AMTA charter.
We came to a place where we talked about the specific officers, how often there might be elections, and the transfer of power. We rotated office elections and terms so that half of the officers kept their office, while elections filled the other half on a given year and vice versa the next year. We speculated, half-joking and half-serious about possible coups, rebellion, power struggles and the like. We laughed a lot in the middle of all that labor. I always knew this group (all modelers everywhere) were some of the most dedicated, passionate, professional, and fun-loving people in the world.
There we were, a band of souls united by our common desire to become and help others become the best teachers possible. We had only a small inkling of what we were doing. We had absolutely no idea where all of it would grow from that apartment over a decade ago. We completed the articles and decided on who would be the first officers. Patrick Daisley from Washington served as the Founding President, Rachel Black from California the Founding Treasurer, and myself from Hawai'i the Founding Secretary.
Before we left Arizona, we shared what we did with Jane Jackson, Program Manager of MI at ASU, who then explained everything to David Hestenes, Director of MI at ASU. We told the different workshop leaders as well. Jane Jackson, David Hestenes, Kathy Malone, and Colleen Megowan all paid their Lifetime dues. Off we went.
The Zany Founders of AMTA:
Patrick Daisley, Founding President
Carmela Minaya (now Carmela Jones), Founding Secretary
Rachael Black, Founding Treasurer
Kay Fincher
Hilary Haugen
Matt Greenwolfe
Beth Prause
Enjoy your holiday and New Year celebrations, creating memories with family and friends. I hope you are receiving much from The STEM Secret blog thus far. More to come in 2019.
Add your name to those who support Modeling Instruction (MI) by liking & subscribing to The STEM Secret blog (there's a subscribe button at the top and the bottom of the page: https://www.thestemsecret.com) and by liking & following The STEM Secret FaceBook page (https://www.facebook.com/theSTEMSecret/?modal=admin_todo_tour).
If you are a Modeling teacher, share your story by sending it to the email listed. If you know a great Modeling teacher, encourage them to send their story to the email listed. cjones.stemprofessionals@gmail.com.
If you are Modeling teacher and want to interact with other Modeling teachers with a question, an issue, a classroom experience, an announcement, or anything other MI teachers might be interested in, post it on the M2M (Modeler to Modeler) blog on the AMTA site. https://modelinginstruction.org/submit-a-blog-entry-to-m2m/
Comentários