Options abound when it comes to pre-registering for the OSTA Fall Conference on November 6th. First, you can register on-line with your credit card using OSTA’s secure registration site. Second, you can use the same registration site to complete your registration details, checking the box that indicates you will pay by check or Purchase Order. You can then print the form and send it with your check or PO. This option works well because we’ll already have your registration details and can make food and space arrangements in advance of your payment. Third, you can download the traditional Registration form and mail it with you check or PO. Just make sure you mail it so that it arrives before the October 15th Early-Bird Registration cut-off date!
Your Early-Bird Registration cost includes continental breakfast, lunch, and refreshments as well as the best collection of staff development options for science teachers to be found in Oklahoma this year! We’ll even throw in 2011 OSTA membership at no cost!
Click the Conferences tab for more information about the conference and check back often as we’ll be updating with program details in the next few weeks.
Early-Bird Registration ends October 15th after which the registration cost increases to $55. You will still be able to register on-line with your credit card, but you will need to either mail your check or PO payments so they arrive before November 6th or bring them with you to the conference if your choose not to use OSTA’s on-line registration. You will also be able to complete on-site registration at the conference on-line by credit card or by check.
Don’t delay another day. Now is the time to register for the OSTA Fall Conference.
The next meeting of the OSTA Board of Directors will be Saturday, September 11th at 9 AM in Howell Hall on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma. Board members are urged to RSVP Pam Christol.
Last week we posted the information about The OSTA Fall Conference November 6th at UCO. First off, it’s time to register for the conference. Registration can be made today and payment can be made securely, online with your credit card. The link is found in last week’s blog posting or by clicking the Conference tab at the top of this page. SAVE MONEY and register early!
THINGS TO DO TODAY!
In addition to processing your registration, you need to download and send in a proposal to present to the conference. The big draw in an OSTA Conference is the staff development. And that comes about when you share your great ideas with the rest of the science teachers in Oklahoma at the Fall Conference. The deadline is coming up and NOW is the time when the conference committee is formulating the program.
This is also the time when you need to step up and exercise your responsibility as a member. Nominate someone or volunteer to run for an OSTA Board of Directors post. Any while you are at it, nominate someone for an OSTA award. Don’t leave this important task solely to the discretion of the Board of Directors. Suggest some folks who deserve recognition for the hard work they do for the children in Oklahoma!
Howell Hall, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond
Make plans to attend the premier event for Oklahoma Science teachers!
Call For Presentations!
The OSTA Fall Conference is a time to share what you know about teaching and learning science as well as learn new things and grow as a professional. Feel free to share a new technique, a novel use of technology, or findings from your latest summer workshop. Have an upcoming inservice program for science teachers? The OSTA Fall conference is an ideal way to promote your program. Download the call for proposals to submit a proposal to present at the fall conference.
Call for Nominations!
The OSTA Fall conference includes the annual OSTA business meeting. OSTA members are able to vote to elect new members to the OSTA Board of Directors. The OSTA Nominations Committee is now accepting Nominations for the even numbered OSTA regions (2,4, and 6) as well as Treasurer, Middle School Division Director and College/University Division Director. That’s a lot of opportunity to serve and help make a difference in Science Education in Oklahoma. Self Nominations are encouraged! Download the Nominations form here.
OSTA Awards!
OSTA presents annual awards to recognize those among us who have made significant contributions to science education in the state. The Jack Renner Distinguished Service Award is the top award given by OSTA, but other recognition is given annually to Oklahoma Science teachers at the Elementary, Middle Level, High School, and College levels. The OSTA Awards Committee is now accepting award nominations. Download a nomination form here.
Invitation to Exhibitors…
Have a product of interest to science teachers? Have a program that needs advertisement? Does you company or organization offer service of interest to Oklahoma science teachers and schools? Exhibit space is available at reasonable rates. Download the Exhibitors proposal here.
It’s Not Too Early to Register!
Register now and avoid the rush. Pre-conference Early Bird registration is only $45 and includes the OSTA Awards Luncheon and complimentary membership renewal for the next year. Pre-service science teachers can attend for $25 (lunch and complimentary membership included). Early Bird Registration ends October 15th.
OSTA Conference Registration can now made securely, online with your credit card. Payment includes a $3 processing fee. Register Securely Online
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association, the Oklahoma Science Safety Summit is designed to focus on the topic of safety in science classrooms and will bring sharp focus to needs, practices, and responsibilities of teachers and schools. This is designed as a Trainer of Trainers workshop and will provide the tools and knowledge to enable participants to lead the yearly training required in every school district in Oklahoma.
Science Laboratory Safety: A Training of Trainers (Grades K–12)
A one-day session, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This session is designed to help teachers and administrators understand the Oklahoma science safety laws and requirements for Oklahoma public schools.
Participants will use a laboratory checklist to analyze safety conditions in their schools and receive materials designed to assess and support laboratory safety in elementary, middle, and high schools.
In this session, you will:
Analyze sample laboratory and classroom facilities.
Determine responses to common laboratory accidents.
Learn how to select and maintain appropriate science safety equipment and materials.
Engage in activities that lead to an understanding of current safety laws, rules, and regulations.
Analyze events that lead to common accidents and determine how to respond to them.
Presenter for the summit is Jim Collins of the Charles Dana Center at the University of Texas.
Jim’s extensive research in safety practices and procedures in Texas resulted in a recentstrengthening on the Texas state laws regulating school safety and safety practice in Texas. His work includes the Texas Safety Standards for Kindergarten–Grade 12 and An Analysis of Laboratory Safety in Texas.
Go to the Dana Center (http://www.utdanacenter.org/sciencetoolkit/safety/) for more information about the science safety toolkit.
Summit At-A-Glance
Location:
July 30 – Howell Hall (science building) on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma,
Time: 9 am until 4: pm (8:30 Registration and continental breakfast)
Cost: $50 per person. Purchase orders to OSTA are accepted. Space is limited to a maximum of 30 participants. All participants receive a copy of a CD of Safety Kit resources, continental breakfast, lunch, and a 1 year complimentary new membership in OSTA (not good toward OSTA membership renewals).
If you prefer to pay for Registration by check or Purchase Order you may print and mail in the online form or use the registration form on the Conference page on this website.
Over on the left column of this page are RSS feeds from other science education websites that I find interesting. The NABT BioBlog is an effort on that list started and operated by a small group of members of the National Association of Biology Teachers with the intent of using the interactive nature of a blog to share their perspectives on science education. There is a wide range of perspective from the folks who contribute to the BioBlog. Some folks talk about their interactions out in nature ( I particularly liked a recent posting by Rich Benz, an Ohio biology teacher who recently went fly-fishing, but got far more from not catching his quarry). Others talk about their classroom experiences or what they learned at a conference. Several regular contributors are really adept at using technology to build new ways of teaching and learning. These posts are VERY interesting indeed.
One recent post featured Jenks teacher Sue Millican who is an acquaintance of regular BioBlogger Robin Hayden. Read Robin’s post here.
I really liked the article and what Sue and her students are doing. I also like the example being set by the BioBloggers. Like OSTA, NABT is a member driven and member dependent organization. Too small to have an extensive staff, NABT depends on active and involved members to do the heavy lifting in the organization. One of the great benefits of doing this work for the organization is the opportunity to meet people like Robin and Sue and share experiences, techniques, and perspectives. And this benefit ends up in making a difference in the lives of youngsters.
Go check out the article and the BioBlog. While you are at it, have you gone over to the OSTA NING? This is a social networking tool that hands you the opportunity to build relationships and interact with other OSTA members. Once again, it is member driven and member dependent . Give it a look today. It will only become useful when we get a member base large enough for folks to interact.
Check out the side column of the webpage and you’ll notice a couple of changes in the features offered by OSTA. First and foremost, OSTA now offers an on-line membership option. Through a secure website you can now initiate or renew your OSTA membership and pay by credit card. You can also continue to pay by check through the on-line form. The credit card option will incur a $3 fee assessed by Telusys, our contractor for the secure site (and who’s name will appear on your card statement). Payment-by-check will not be assessed this extra fee, but many folks will no doubt prefer the convenience of the online payment option. This is also the first time we are processing dues on a calendar year basis. Your $10 annual membership now runs January 1 through December 31st each year. If you pay your dues any time between January 1 and the end of July, your membership fee will be good for calendar year 2010. Fees paid after the beginning of August will be credited through the next calendar year as well. It’s a bit of a break, but is NO EXCUSE for letting your membership lapse for 7 months every other year!
Conference and workshop registrations will use this same system and you will be able to customize your order and payment (i.e., Do I want the t-shirt? Do I want to pay an extra fee to attend a conference field trip? etc.) Look for the first use of this system soon as we begin pre-registration for the 3rd annual OSTA Science Safety Summit to be held in late July.
Below the new membership link on the side bar is a link to the new OSTA NING. Unfamiliar with NING? The NING Network is a social network based on a group rather than an individual. There are all kinds of NING’s out there and if you follow the link at the top of our NING you can explore them. One is School 2.0 which in it’s description intends togo beyond the practical discussion of applying the read/write and collaborative Web technologies in the classroom. It is, instead, a larger discussions of how education, learning, and our physical school spaces can (or should) change because of the changing nature of our social and economic lives brought on by these technologies. There is even an NING about using NING in education. As well as the Educator’s PLN (personal learning network), among many, many others. (Even the Pickens Plan has a NING)
We hope you will join the OSTA NING to begin a Professional Learning Community to share and explore ideas with other Oklahoma science educators as well as discuss OSTA and how to best utilize this organization. We’ve already established groups for special interests like Science Competitions (moderated by Central Oklahoma Science Fair Director Beth Allen), Educational Technology (moderated by Putnam City High School teacher Jody Bowie), and group especially for beginning teachers and prospective teachers. Click the link and join the OSTA NING. We are reviewing the names and addresses all who ask to join, but once approved, your first task is to post your picture and join the discussion. What to discuss? That’s up to you, the place is wide open right now.
Finally, you may have noticed a few weeks ago we took down the ability to register to the NewsBlog. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep spammers from registering on the site. I really don’t know why people with email addresses from other countries (.ru, .de, .cz) would subscribe to the OSTA website, but I don’t imagine it’s all that good. So we will gradually work make the OSTA web site a members-only site for email notifications and comments (although it will always remain in the public domain for visitors). We currently have over 700 people who have subscribed for email notifications and hopefully all will take this opportunity to join OSTA to stay up-to-date with the latest Oklahoma science education news.
Spring is always a busy season for organizations like OSTA. You’d think it would be Fall, when the conferences and in-services are typically held, but nope, late-winter to early spring is when the decisions are made that will affect how the group will ultimately fare in the next year.
Dr. Christol at work...
OSTA President Pam Christol is in the process of appointing chairpersons to the OSTA Standing Committees. She’s knows a lot of folks, and that helps when it comes to matching good people with the tasks that must be accomplished. But she doesn’t know everybody and she doesn’t know that YOU are willing and able to donate a little time and effort to the cause of OSTA.
OSTA’s Nominations Committee is the standing committee charged with developing the pool of volunteers who will serve on committees and run for Board positions. Kathy Pursley is the Chair of the Nominations Committee and she need YOU to step up and let her know that you are willing to help OSTA advance the cause of science education in Oklahoma. You might want to consider serving on a committee and there are several standing committees that require population by members (not Board members). One of the largest is the Professional Development committee, which puts together the great staff development programs offered by OSTA, like the Science Safety Summit and the Fall Conference. But the other committees are places to serve as well. If you would like to be on the Membership, Constitution, Nomination, Communication, or Election committees, please email Pam and/or Kathy and they can get your name to the committee chairs. If you would like to be considered for a Board position at some point, let Kathy know so she can add your name to the pool of nominees.
There is a place for you to serve and be an active part of OSTA. Now is the time to step up and take your place.
