Meteorology Day: A Plea for Connections

Two weeks from today, I am setting aside the day with my students and calling it Meteorology Day.  I’ve been flexing the muscles of my PLN frequently this year, but this is the biggest challenge to date. This all started from a random thought during our first day discussing weather.  I sent out a quick tweet to my PLN asking them to tweet their location and the day’s forecast.  50 to 60 responses later, my mind was churning in overdrive.  Are their any meteorologists on Twitter? Do any of them Skype? Could I get folks from across the country to talk to my students for a few minutes about the challenges of forecasting in their area?

The answer to all three questions apparently, is YES!  I found a WeFollow list of meteorologists on Twitter and sent tweets to a number of them asking for help.  From their I contacted the husband of one of my wife’s college friends who is a meteorologist in Richmond, VA.  He gave me the names of 5 other friends of his throughout the US.  I also contacted our local news station to see if anyone there would be willing to Skype with us.  So far,  I have 5 confirmations, including a teacher from Australia who will be joining us for an anecdotal talk about weather conditions in Western Australia.

I’m still looking for others though. Currently, I have folks from North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Pittsburgh (with experience in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), and Western Australia.  I’m still looking for someone in Oklahoma or Texas as well as some Pacific Coast folks and perhaps someone in the Southwest.

If you have any contacts in any of those areas, or truthfully in other International areas, I’d love to see how extensive we can get this thing. I’m hoping to have at least 2 per class period from 10am to 3pm EST (with a 45 minute break 12:15 to 1pm for lunch).  Please pass this post along to anyone who might be able to get in touch with a meteorologist who might want to work with some amazing 7th graders to help them understand weather and the atmosphere.

Also look for a wrap-up post after our day of connections on October 15th! There’s quite a bit of excitement in my classroom for this day already!