Day 1: Washington DC

My first day in DC has been great. We started off at the Smithsonian, at which point we were separated into groups that went to different museums. My group, which went to the Museum of American Art, spent most of our time at the Alexis Rockman exhibit, observing and discussing. It was wonderful seeing this amazing art and being able to just talk about it and explore how we could use his art in the classroom. If you have never seen his work, you should check it out at his official site. His work has this feel of botanical and scientific drawings, but they carry a social message regarding our consumption patterns and our destruction of our own ecosystem.

My favorite called Golf Course is not available on his site, but I also really liked the one with the cows here. It addresses our need to bioengineer our food and the consequences of that should it go unchecked.

After the Smithsonian, we headed off to the Biden residence, where we attended a reception hosted by Jill Biden, who was incredibly warm and friendly and welcoming. She took care to meet each of us personally; then she addressed the whole group, during which time she focused on the role teachers play in students' lives and particularly addressed the needs of military children.

We headed back to the hotel. Since we had a free evening, I was glad to spend that time with my mom. We walked around, bought some books for my kids, and ate a meat and cheese tray for dinner at an Italian restaurant.

Tomorrow we head to the White House for the National Teacher of the Year introduction. After that, my mom and I get a tour of the Capital by some Reid staff and then have a meeting with Reid himself.

Iwill try to update tomorrow.