Al Gonzalez teaches Science, Technology, and Robotics to 6
th
and 8
th
graders at Chimacum Middle School. He has been teaching for 27 years, 21 of those in Chimacum School District. This year, Al’s students worked with us in our nursery to pot up bare root plants, remove invasive species, and explore how the carbon cycle is connected to climate change. We also spent two days in the classroom exploring benthic macroinvertebrates with the 6
th
graders. It is always a pleasure to work with Al and his students.
What is the most rewarding aspect of teaching?
Working with young people is refreshing. It’s very different from working with adults and I get energy and any vitality I have from working with my 6
th
and 8
th
graders! My wife often has to remind me to act my age and not the age of my students. I love getting to see what interests and motivates students about the world around them and especially what’s right in their backyards. Helping kids learn and become excited about topics with which they may be unfamiliar is a great way to spend my days here in Chimacum Middle School. I believe the purpose of education is to expose kids to as much as we can to see what sparks an interest in them, and science is very well suited to that. Kids need to know how to understand the natural phenomena they see every day and they need to know what is real science and what is fake science. Unfortunately, we live in a time where fake news and fake science runs rampant through social media and it is our job as educators to help our young people maneuver through those landmines. Knowing that I am helping kids learn how the world around them works is very rewarding.
What is your greatest accomplishment as a teacher?
My greatest accomplishment thus far as a science teacher is taking advantage of working in a campus with easy access to our neighborhood creek, Chimacum Creek. When I started teaching science in Chimacum back in 1997, I knew I had to take advantage of our proximity to the creek. When I found out that the North Olympic Coalition (NOSC) not only worked to restore Chimacum Creek, but also worked with the schools to help educate our children, I knew we would have a great partnership. And we have been working together for almost 19 years now!
Describe your favorite science unit or activity.
Because of the easy access to Chimacum Creek, I have been developing our Environmental Stewardship Project, as it is currently called. That project has made our school an official NOAA Ocean Guardian School and it all started as a water quality project where I would take 6
th
graders to the creek to test the dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, turbidity, and other parameters. Through various grants, I have been able to purchase water quality testing kits, sensors and probes, and other equipment to transform my students into field scientists. It has been amazing to see my 6
th
graders going to the creek to learn about habitat restoration and become stewards of their watershed. Being able to collect their own data, trap, identify, count fish in the creek, and plant trees along the creek brings the classroom learning to life.
If you could have one teacher superpower, what would it be?
Oh that’s easy, SUPER SPEED! Even though I’m a huge Marvel fan my favorite superhero is the Flash. So yes, while I could use the super speed for saving lives and helping the world, I would also use that super power in my teaching by providing my students with instant feedback all the time! We know that feedback that is timely and helps students know how to progress towards mastery is essential but it takes me time to read all my students’ responses and provide each student with useful and individual feedback. If I could do that in the blink of an eye, or as fast as my current technology allows, no one would have to wait to know how he or she is doing! I could assess students more frequently and more effectively to help them learn.
What is your vision for the future of science education?
I envision kids of all ages learning science by doing. I appreciate how the current science standards require teachers to provide their students with authentic learning opportunities based on phenomena where students are asking their own questions, making their own models, designing their own experiments, and analyzing their own data to make sense of the phenomena they observe. That is the way science should be done in school! In addition, we are exposing our students to engineering problems and challenges in science due to the new standards. Having students come up with solutions to real world problems that they are inheriting is relevant and helps them come up with solutions that might someday actually be a reality. That is my dream, that students of mine follow-up with their ideas and help the world.
When you aren’t teaching, what do you enjoy doing?
My wife and daughter help me stay centered and they re-energize me. We enjoy nature as well as watching movies. We love film and cinema and talk for hours about movies we watch together. We also love our pets. We have two dogs, two cats, and a rabbit that my daughter used to show in 4H. When I’m not with my family I love to run. Races are thrilling because it’s the one time I get to run with lots of other runners! Gaming is also a favorite pastime of mine and it was the love of gaming that got me started in running. There’s a game app called
Zombies, Run
. Running the app takes the runner into a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are plentiful and we are doing our best to survive. It is an immersive story/game where the player actually runs in real life! What a thrill when you’re running and out of nowhere you hear a zombie!
THANK YOU for the amazing work you are doing Al! We are grateful to have fun, dedicated and passionate teachers like you in our communit
y.
