Wiley Middle Teacher Headed to Rainforest

Betty Jo Moore, who teaches science at Wiley Magnet Middle, is headed to the rainforest.

She and the other teachers who are going will be posting on a blog. So you will be able to follow some of their adventures along the way. You can find out more about the those going at Trip to Belize

Moore is one of 12 educators from across North Carolina who will experience the natural world like never before as part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Educators of Excellence Institutes.  From July 25 to Aug. 1, they will be in Belize, Central America.  

Along with two educators from Belize, participants will learn about surprising similarities between the ecologies of the tropics and their own region of North Carolina.  During this 29th annual trip, they will study birds, butterflies, and other animals unique to the tropics, and have the opportunity to explore a rain forest, Mayan ruins and a coral reef. 

“I’m really, really excited about this,” Moore said by phone this morning.

Moore is having quite a summer. She just returned from a family trip to Germany to celebrate one daughter graduating from high school and another daughter graduating from college.

The adventure in Belize is going to start as soon as they arrive. Participants were told to wear whatever they plan to wear in the jungle on the plane.

“As soon as we get off, we get going,” Moore said.

Before the trip to Germany, she bought hiking boots so she would break them in in the Alps before heading to Belize.

Moore said she had been wanting to participating in one of the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ adventures for quite some time. The one to the one rainforest seemed perfect.

“I have never actually been to a rainforest,” she said.

“These trips have the power to change educators’ lives,” said Liz Baird, head of school and lifelong education for the musuem.  “Not only do the Institutes inspire and reward outstanding teachers, they also have a huge impact on how teachers teacher and relate to their students.”

Moore said she certainly plans to pass along what she learns to her students.

This will not be her last adventure of the summer.  On Aug. 6, she and fellow Wiley teacher Seth Henley are headed to San Diego for the Teacher in Conservation Science Workshop.

“We will be working with scientists connected to the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Safari Park for this experience,” Moore said. “We will be camping at night and working with scientists in the lab and in the field during the day.”  

The N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ Educators of Excellence Institutes aims to inform and empower educators to teach students about North Carolina’s ecological connections to the rest of the world.  All Institutes have an online component  that allows colleagues and students to follow along on the trip through pictures, journal entries and email Q&A. 

The find out more about the museum go to Museum of Natural Sciences

Institute alumni become part of the Educators of Excellence Network, which helps teachers exchange innovative ideas for teaching science and promoting conservation awareness.  More than 500 outstanding North Carolina science educators have participated in Educators of Excellence programs since 1987, while more than 355,000 North Carolina children have learned from these teachers.