My Why (eeww)

Hey there! I never thought I'd be a teacher with a blog, but here I am, a decade into this whole teaching thing and still going strong. While many voices talk about leaving the classroom, I want to offer a different perspective—a voice of a still-young (I'm 33, at least I think that's young!), somewhat optimistic, yet sometimes jaded high school science teacher. I'm on a journey to rediscover the meaning and joy in the career I used to love.

In this blog, you'll find my adventures using AI in the classroom, my experiences managing and engaging students in a post-COVID world, and awesome science lessons. But it's more than that. It's about finding my "Why" again. Why do I choose to stay in this profession, even when it can feel like a toxic relationship at times?

Sure, it's for the kids, the challenge, and all the usual reasons. But mostly, it's for the day-to-day joy that teaching can bring—if I can find it again, or maybe this will morph into my journey out of the classroom- but I hope not. I want to share my journey with you, along with practical tips and insights, so we can grow together as educators.

Let's navigate this path together, discover the joys and challenges of teaching science, and find the meaning that brings us back to the classroom every day. I’m starting at a new school this year, and this fresh start may be exactly what I need- either way, it is sure to be interesting and I’m excited for the experiment of it all. I’m going to be focusing on putting my decade’s worth of experience, my Master’s degree worth of education research knowledge, and my scientific mind to solving the puzzle of how to educate in today’s world.

Looking forward to connecting and sharing with you all! K cool?

Lauren Petersen

aka K, Cool! Science

Ps. Speaking of using AI in the classroom- totally used Chat GPT to help me edit and improve this blog post. I will also be doing so for blurbs in my classroom syllabus this year and what not, it can help a lot with tone and revisions- if you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend checking it out!