Micro-Talk Reflection - ED 726

I knew immediately that I wanted to complete my micro-talk on National Geographic Education.  What I did not realize though was how difficult it would be for me to choose a focus on the site that I could talk about for only five minutes.  It would take days to go through every piece of the National Geographic Education site and see all that it has to offer.  Since I am a math teacher and teach at a magnet school focused around STEM, I decided to select the site's STEM category and see what resources would be available.

The Plan It Green game provides teachers an opportunity to introduce the topic of STEM into the classroom in a fun and interactive way.  They are able to see what it takes to create a city that is energy efficient and within a budget.  In addition, they can play the game with their friends and problem solve together to find the best solutions to their city's problems.

Besides learning more about the National Geographic Education site, I really loved learning from the comments left by my classmates.  Initially, I thought the game could be used in a science or technology class.  After reading through the comments though, I realized that it could be an after school club that students are involved with and they could use that time to create their cities.  Also, there are many magnet schools that focus on not only STEM, but also have an environmental focus that could use the program in their magnet enrichment classes.  The emphasis on energy efficiency and environmental concerns provides students with background knowledge that they can use to become more aware of global issues.

As I was watching my classmates' micro-talks, I realized that I need to share them with my fellow teachers at my school.  As part of our teacher evaluation process we are asked to choose a professional goal for ourselves.  Micro-talks would be an excellent resource that teachers could use to share information or gain information about a particular topic or resource.  Although staff meetings are usually packed with tasks and presentations, a micro-talk takes less than five minutes to introduce a resource.