Immersion Training, Stipend Checks & Bikes

Contrary to the title, finishing immersion training and my bicycle purchase are entirely unrelated.

In training yesterday, we gave small group presentations on our evaluation of a sort of packaged lesson plan kit for various subjects. My groups subject and kit was a SEPUP (Science Education for Public Understanding Program) kit intended to be used to teach major concepts about evolution. The kit is supposed to come with everything a teacher needs to teach a lesson on different subjects including workbooks, teacher's manual and supplies. Overall, I found the kits to be rather contrived and poor quality to actually teach such subjects in an engaging way. Unfortunately, these kits are already being implemented in NYC's public schools. Maybe these work overall to improve student achievement when implemented, but real life science is not a kit, so why on earth would we teach it like that? - Just my opinion.

On Thursday, all of the science and math immersion fellows were delighted to receive the first portion of the summer stipend of $1,000. Needless to say, I was happy to have an income again. Also, a small extra perk is that the checks were from Chase, which happens to be my bank, so I did not have to wait for the check to clear.

Lastly, I've been considering purchasing a bike to either commute (probably not) or just go around town on. While it's a nice idea to be active in my self-transportation, the potential disastrous accidents while biking absolutely terrifies me. However, this fear was not enough to stop me from purchasing a bike. I went to a bike shop on 14th st near 1st ave and test rode a three of the same brand - Dahon. Dahon typically does not sell standard bikes; most of them are foldable. As dorky as it may seem to have a bike with 20" wheels being folded up at the train station, I really don't mind losing a small amount of dignity for a large amount of convenience. The bike is actually quite comfortable and convenient. There's even a tired pump IN the seat! It's about 23 pounds also, so I can carry it without breaking my back, although not much further than a few blocks. Ideally I would ride this to work, but somehow I think I would be far too sweaty by the end of my ride, which itself would be far too long for a daily commute. Maybe I'll start riding in my down time and then see if I want to step it up a bit later. If all goes well, my new bike will come with a more active and healthy lifestyle (hopefully!).