Gulf of Mexico Region
Who are we?
The Gulf of Mexico Region includes Teacher at Sea alumni from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
The goals for alumni regions are to build an understanding of physical and marine oceanography among alumni and their students, to establish strong relationships among alumni that emphasize collective participation of groups of teachers, and to develop relationships with NOAA scientists and broaden their connection to NOAA beyond the Teacher at Sea program.
Since the beginning of the Teacher at Sea Alumni Association, educators from this region have met in person in 2017, virtually in 2021, and in a virtual book club in 2022. You can learn more about these activities in the sections below.
Regional Meetings and Alumni Map
Due to challenges and restrictions from the pandemic, in 2021, the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Region Alumni were convened virtually on May 5th, 2021 for a 2.5 hour meeting in which alumni were able to reconnect, share stories about their Teacher at Sea experiences, share resources, and bond during a team-building virtual science museum scavenger hunt with Watson Adventures.
All GOM alumni attending the meeting received a copy of the book The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea by Jack E. Davis, and in the Spring of 2022, alumni from the region met again virtually for several book club discussions about the book. The goal of the book club was to create another opportunity for alumni to get to know each other and to share how they might use the regionally-specific content from the book in their classrooms.
NOAA’s Gulf of Mexico Region Teacher at Sea Alumni (GOM TASA) Workshop was held on May 5-7, 2017 in Pascagoula, Mississippi at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC). Seventeen Teacher at Sea Alumni (TASA) from the region (AL, AR, FL, KS, MO, MS, OK, TN, and TX) attended this two and a half day professional development workshop in order to strengthen oceanographic content knowledge, create relationships with NOAA scientists, gain knowledge about NOAA resources, and build an alumni network in their region.
Workshop Goals
The goals of the workshop are aligned with selected NOAA Teacher at Sea Program’s goals.
- Increase teachers’ understanding of earth system science.
- Build working relationships among teachers, emphasizing collective participation of groups of teachers.
- Build relationships between NOAA scientists and teachers in the Pacific Northwest region.
- Use NOAA data and resources in classroom activities.
- Use NOAA-related career information in classroom activities, when mentoring students and when working with colleagues.