Sunday, June 18, 2023
By:
"Working from home" is a bit of a misnomer, if my experiences are correct.
It tends to be more along the lines of "working from a coffeeshop" followed by "working from a different coffeeshop down the street," with a very good chance of "working from another coffeeshop" tomorrow. Monday started the week off strong, as Tiffany, Brynn, and I worked and studied from two coffeeshops in the same day. I spent most of this week researching and writing my first Teaching Guide, which is a one-lesson curriculum that teaches students about a topic that is less frequently covered in standard curricula.
I chose to focus my first teaching guide on meteorological forecasting through the lens of Charles E. Anderson, a Tuskegee Airman and noted atmospheric scientist from the mid-20th century. This was a shockingly smooth segue from the activities of last weekend, where Emily and I watched Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, in which the Tuskegee Airmen feature prominently. The week flew by, drafting lesson plans and learning new things about meteorology at the height of World War II.
Thursday night (after another coffeeshop work session) we met with the SPS Executive Committee at Present Company Public House, my first "real" networking event and a great evening of meeting people from all different facets of the physics community. I loved hearing about the dozens of ways everyone involved themselves in the field, and got a few ideas about new things I might want to try!
Friday was spent trying to finalize my writings about Charles Anderson, and realizing I still have a few things I need to add—creating a PowerPoint presentation to go along with my lesson plan and handout will come.
Saturday was the highlight of my week, as we travelled to the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for a fantastic concert (that was a second layer of cool to a music history nerd). We heard two intricate modern pieces, and what are being hailed as the "definitive" versions of George Gershwin's Second Rhapsody and Rhapsody in Blue, restored to the original scoring by University of Michigan researchers. To me, there's nothing like hearing music the way it was intended to be—did you know Rhapsody in Blue originally had parts for three saxophones and a banjo? I certainly didn't.
Our weekend isn't over yet, but tomorrow's intern potluck will be a part of next week's blog.
MJ Keller