You guys. I had the MOST AMAZING experience last week. I have been teaching for 14 years and I would put this in the top 5 best moments in my career. Incredible. Astounding. Just... wow. So what happened, you ask? STARTALK. StarTalk happened. StarTalk, if you aren't familiar with it, is famous astrophysisist Neil deGrasse Tyson's podcast with National Geographic. He records it in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum Natural History in New York City, New York. My colleague and friend @schwarzscience (7th grade science teacher) put in a request for tickets in the ticket lottery in the summer of 2017. By total luck the tickets became available!! We quickly made plans to drive to NY at lunch the day of the taping. The show was taped from 7:00 pm to 12:30 am, with two shows being taped back to back. We arrived outside the Hayden Planetarium on a cold and windy January night, excited to see the show and Neil deGrasse Tyson: After a half an hour wait in the cold (we were EARLY) , we went inside and checked in. An amazing sight awaited us... the entire bottom of the planetarium had been transformed into a TV studio for the taping: It felt like we were on a movie set! Cameras everywhere, lighting, boom microphones, and everyone dressed in black. AND THEN NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON WALKED OUT!!!! Cue the hyperventilating. Yes, I am a #fangirl. He was so nice! Circulated among people, chatted... AWESOME. After some light refreshments, we were seated. For the first taping, we were seated in the back... though there were no bad seats. There were perhaps 40 people total in the audience. They assured us everyone would switch seats at the next show, but we were so happy and excited to be there that it wouldn't have mattered where we sat! A comic/MC talked us through the rules of live taping - no phones or photography... no posting on social media about the content or the guests, and what good guest behavior looks and sounds like. Basically lots of clapping and cheering... which wasn't a problem, we were all VERY excited to be there! The first taping was so awesome - and my favorite part was seeing all the behind-the-scenes stuff... clips being reshot, lines being flubbed, conversations going off topic and being reigned in by the producer. It was very fun. After the first taping, there was a short break. We refueled with more snacks and were re-seated. For the second taping, my colleague and I were right in the very front row, no more than 10 feet from Mr. Tyson and his guests! It was honestly surreal. Fun fact: Mr. Tyson has a moon carpet that he stands on to mark his "spot" for the cameras. He says he's "over the moon" with every taping! HA! When the second taping concluded, Mr. Tyson graciously allowed us to take photographs and get autographs. LOOK!! It was so inspiring to listen to world-famous astrophysicists talk about pop-culture, science, and life. While we can't tell you now who the special guests were, I will come back and update this post in April/May when the shows air. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. I still can't believe it actually happened. It was bucket-list stuff for sure.
Want to know more about Neil deGrasse Tyson? Follow him on Twitter! Check out his books, too! (Note: I am not affiliated with Mr. Tyson and do not receive compensation for clicks on these links!)
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About the AuthorHi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Christine Hurley. This is my 17th year of teaching - I've taught Kindergarten, 4th grade, elementary media, and now I am in my 6th year of teaching middle school media! Archives
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