All I Want for Christmas is Some Fish

I mentioned my love for biology as a kid in my introduction post, but I'd like to expound a little on my really early experiences in this one.  I had quite a bit of experience with biology growing up, and all of it made me more interested in it and definitely influenced my view of the subject.

One of my earliest memories was sitting on Santa's lap when I was two or three years and asking for "fish," which my mom had to explain meant an aquarium.  Santa gave me a weird look, but told me that if I was really good I would get it.  I was so excited when I came downstairs that Christmas and found a lit up fish tank that I got to fill with fish that I chose at Petsmart.  I loved watching them swim around in their underwater world and I rarely forgot to feed them.  I even helped my mom clean the tank when it needed it.

I spent my free time reading books from the library about animals and watching animal planet.  In fact, one of the first books that motivated me to read (which you know wasn't easy if you read my last post) was a book that my family still has called Great Snakes.  In my early studies, I was definitely influenced towards a conservationist viewpoint.  This made my family's trips to the zoo and various aquariums a dilemma for me.  I loved the chance to see the animals I cared about up close, but at the same time hated to see them kept caged up.  By the time that I was eleven years old, I'd decided that zoos were valuable tools for education even though the conditions were not always ideal for the animals that lived there.  I remember the Hogle Zoo particularly well.  For as long as I can remember I knew that the concrete enclosures that most of the animals were kept in were not good.  I can still remember the wall of things people had thrown into the hippo pool and the horrid smell.  It made me sad.  When I was in preschool, I wanted to be a hippo when I grew up so it was always cool, but a little disturbing to see the hippo kept in a concrete pool.  In more recent family trips with my nieces and nephews, I can tell that the Hogle Zoo is making huge improvements to the enclosures.  The rhinos which I remember as lethargic and laying down almost all the time seem to be spending more time on their feet and walking around since their enclosure was renovated.  The hippo was traded to a zoo with better facilities.  It makes me happy :)


Okay, just a few more stories and we'll call it good.  I love writing about this, probably way more than you love reading it.  Every February, bald eagles congregate in an area near where I grew up.  I have lots of memories of driving out to the bird refuge to count eagles.  It used to be that we'd see about eight eagles in a good year.  Now that count is up to around thirty and one year we counted nearly sixty.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint) as the number of eagles has climbed, so has the number of people that know they come.  We used to see maybe one or two cars per trip, now there's tons.  I still go out the the refuge every year that I get a chance.  We also used to take trips to Yellowstone National Park.  I loved it because the animals were wild and the scenery is beautiful.

I love biology because I was able to explore the aspects of it that interested me.  I hope to give my students that same chance when I'm designing my lessons and assessments.  I want to allow my students several angles and perspectives to choose from when I give an assignment so I can hopefully pique some of their interest.  I know it won't be easy, because my husband loves music and has other strong feelings towards biology.  I'm interested in the conservation side of things, but students with other interests will be interested in different aspects.  For example, a student who is interested in agriculture might be more interested in  how conservation laws or invasive species affect farming while a students who is interested in technology might be more interested in how knee replacements are developed.  I want to allow students to explore their interest through my class.  On a somewhat unrelated note, I'd also love to have an aquarium in my classroom if possible.  I still keep an aquarium, and I think it would be nice to have some live organisms in the classroom.  I'm a little afraid that it might distract a few students, but I think I'd have to give it a try before I could know for certain.  Most people that I know are interested in my tank and if I can inspire a little interest in biology by having one around, I'll give it a try.