1.  Start planning with your teachers early and communicate with them about their schedules.  You are responsible for finding out who is teaching what, and when, so that you can plan your lessons accordingly.

2.  Be aware of your school’s calendar of events and policies.  This information is available through the Salt Lake City school district website.

3.  Sell yourself (and WEST) to the teachers.  Offer to help augment what they have planned or suggest new ideas.  Keep in mind that many teachers may not know what to do with you so you need to be proactive about how you can help out. 

4.  Be aware that you will be expected to teach topics outside of your specialty.  Be confident in your ability to do this, chances are that you know more than a fourth grader!  Also, do not hesitate to ask another fellow to contribute their expertise.

5.  Your first responsibility is to the lead teacher(s) at your assigned school.  Some lead teachers may want to keep you all to themselves and that is their prerogative.  However, most will be willing to share you with other teachers and other grades.  Again, it’s extremely important that you find out what teachers are working on so that you can drum up some business.  You are also encouraged to help out at any WEST participating school during big events such as field trips or science fairs.  This group dynamic is what makes WEST so successful and fun! 

6.  There is no need to reinvent the wheel.  Communicate with your teachers and other fellows about activities and share lesson plans, resources and supplies.  There are a plethora of websites devoted to educational activities and lesson ideas, links to some of these sites are listed on our Online Resources page.  Also, the Utah Museum of Natural History has several topical Teaching Toolboxes available for checkout that are filled with specimens and curricula.  You can also check other GK-12 websites for lesson plans and ideas.

7.  Become familiar with national and state standards for science teaching in your grade levels.  These standards can be accessed online through the Utah State office of Education Science website or the Salt Lake City school district’s Science website.  Due to the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers and schools have a lot less leeway when it comes to subject matter.  If you have a really great lesson idea but it doesn’t meet standards, make sure you get clearance from your teacher before you invest a lot of time.

8.  Before purchasing supplies for lessons, field trips, or experiments, make sure you check and see what the school has available first.  Also, check the WEST supply list or with Holly Godsey to see what supplies WEST already has.  In order to insure reimbursement, get approval from Holly BEFORE you buy anything (see Expense Requests Guidelines).

9.  Occasionally, you will not be able to put in 15 hours a week on your WEST activities due to research obligations, professional meetings, qualifying exams, finals, etc.  Volunteering to help out at other schools, helping out on field trips, participating in external activities (i.e. Earth Science Week, University of Utah’s Science Day, science fair judging, etc.) are all good ways to make up for “lost” WEST time. Remember that you are a graduate student first, and a WEST fellow second.