Teach What You Know

My family recently wondered what I would ever do with an English degree. One of many things I’ve done is mentor a student in grammar and hopefully foster a love of reading, the benefits of which will last a lifetime. Check out the vast array of opportunities to teach and to learn at teachforamerica.org.

Support Farm-to-School Projects

By teaching kids exactly where their food comes from, they will grow up to make informed grocery choices and strengthen their local economies. Start a farm-to-school project in your school district; all the know how is at farmtoschool.org

#Helpful

    Are you software-savvy? Sign up to teach older adults computer and technology skills through SeniorNet (seniornet.org). Helping our elderly with tech skills is so rewarding. I have seen grandmothers go from never having emailed before to loving the world wide web and contributing their own wisdom, one tweet at a time.

Step Up

    Challenge yourself. Life is a process and throughout your years on this planet, get to know yourself better at every stage. Surprise yourself. If you go through life without tring something new, you are not doing yourself justice. Discover your true potential and maybe more than just your life will improve.

Power for the Planet

    Turn off your computer at night instead of leaving it on or in sleep mode, since this wastes energy. By doing so, you can save an average of 40 watt-hours per day, which adds up to four cents a day, or $14 per year (50waystohelp.com). In addition, the life of your computer will also be extended, as the amount of available time for virus contamination will be greatly reduced. This act of conservation is a great idea you should share with your office-mates.

List Your Life

    Instead of writing up and crossing things off of a bucket list, create a "life list." Let your hopes, dreams, fears, and thoughts spill out of you and into this list. Next to each entry, write down how that emotion or fear makes you feel- does it hold you back or empower you? This task will put you on the road to self-discovery. Knowing who you are is important in order to have relationships with others. Know thyself.

Have a Mission and Live By It

    Tucker Hiatt, one of the Bay Area's most beloved teachers, has been running Wonderfest- a nonprofit science education program- with his own donated funds since 1997 (Wonderfest.org). The mission is based on the insight, inspired by Voltaire, that "societies will continue to make mistakes as long as they continue to misunderstand how the world works. When people comprehend nature and each other, through science, they make smarter decisions about virtually everything: personal and social relationships (psychology), our environment (biology and chemistry), and technology (physics)." Wonderful promotes the scientific outlook so that mistakes- even atrocities- are gradually relegated to history. Since retiring from teaching, Tucker has devoted himself full time to bringing science to the public in non-school settings. Whenever I'm at an event with him, I meet former students of who who have become physicists, engineers, professors- and still talk about how influential he was to them. Now his mission is to expose those of us who didn't get to have him as a teacher (my words, not his!) to that same sense of inspiration.

    Some cool things Tucker and his organization have accomplished:

    

    *Wonderfest has presented hundreds of free (or nearly free) science events for the general public- young and old.

    *Wonderfest ran a high school team science competition that gave students $70,000 in prizes and scholarships.

    *Wonderfest has rewarded local, public-spirited scientists with $45,000 with its Sagan Prize.