1st full day of Teacher Academy

Today was the first full day of the Luminant teacher academy in Fairfield. I've been having a great time and learning quite a bit to take back to my students, as well as a lot of goodies :) Today we took a pre-test, I did pretty good :) We had the oncor VP of Environmental Health and Safety Debbie Boyle come and talk to us about the pathway from power plant to home. We learned about the many issues that they have to deal with. Some are just mind boggling. I found out about the CREZ in Texas which stands for competitive renewable energy zone, basically getting the renewable energy from west Texas to those further east who need it. We had an coal activity where we studied the three types of coal lignite, Bitomous (sp) and Anthracite. We had an awesome activity making a 3D contour map. I hope to upload pictures of what we have been doing when I get home. We did studies on a cutting log and how the different forms of rock can be found at different layers and depths. I'm having a great time and learning a great deal to pass onto my students.