hello, new friends-to-be from the US and the world!

You may call me Dana. All my friends do.
I'll be one of the TEA fellows who are about to begin the TEA program, first in Washington, then at Utah State University...
I thought I should properly introduce myself before we met, study and work together, and, eventually, become friends.

My name is Daniela Mariana Popovici, I was born, raised and currently live and work in Lugoj, Timis County, Romania; 37 years old (since September 5th). I teach Biology at the National College "Coriolan Brediceanu" Lugoj, a prestigious school in our area, with 175 years tradition (this October) in educating young minds and forging strong characters.
As a teacher, a certain number of hours of my “free time” are dedicated to school (I have to prepare for my lessons, grade student’s test papers, imagine activities related to the themes discussed in class, learn new things myself – the students are always more interested and pay more attention when the teacher comes up with a new and exciting idea about the topic they have just learned, whether it’s a new discovery in science or a new teaching method).
Beside my work in the classroom, my schedule is (almost) always full. Being a teacher in Romania implies a various range of curricular and extracurricular activities: trainings for teachers and students, cultural and professional exchanges, partnerships between schools, preparing for school competitions, organizing educational, artistic, leisure activities.
Trainings are a regular part of a teacher with more than 10 years experience; they are mandatory every five years, keeping the teacher “up to date” with the constant changes in the legislation, theory and practice of education. In the past 14 years since I took up this professional road, I participated in about 10 such trainings.
Since 2008, I had to take another assignment: I am today the head of the local professional association of Biology teachers; we get together 4 times a year (sometimes more often), we participate in demonstrative lessons, we exchange ideas, professional experience, in order to improve our own abilities as teachers.
To remain in the “administrative” area, I’d have to add that, in 2009-2010, I was given the opportunity to try a new thing: being, for 9 months, the substitute school head master. It was a rough time for a person with little experience in the field, but also a great opportunity to learn some things I didn’t know about a large educational organization, as our school is, to see things from a different perspective, to enhance my leadership and collaborative abilities.
I’m also tutoring the students who participate in different school competitions: Biology National Olympiad (local and county phases this year), health education contests (Food4U included, last year), environmental education competitions (YRE, this year), photo contests, etc. That gives the students the opportunity to manifest their learning skills, but also their creativity and involvement, even if they are not valedictorians…
I also encourage students to participate in voluntary activities (visiting the local shelter for the stray animals, taking care of trees and plants in parks, cleaning up places in our town, etc.) Thus, they get to do “visible” things themselves, things that draw the community’s attention towards the school in a positive way; at the same time, their behavior changes for the better: they become more careful in disposing of garbage, their selflessness increases and they manifest responsibility more often in their everyday actions.
Among all these “serious” and important activities, we try to find the time to relax and have fun in a special way: we like to stage plays and to sing. On 4 or 5 occasions, the 9th and the 11th graders (then, some of them are already graduates now) manifested themselves this way: the 11th graders and I staged, for example, “Romeo & Juliet”, but with a modern (and dark) twist: substance abuse (in 2010), and, the next year, "The Water on Trial". For the Christmas, another class of 11th graders participated, along with the younger ones, in the holiday show, with songs and gifts from Santa.
And the list could go on…

So, I hope my "informal CV" didn't bore you very much.
I look forward to meet all of you. Have a safe flight there and a great time until then!
Fondly,
Dana