Two of the sessions I attended today were presented by classroom teachers who have found new ways to develop their leadership skills.
Lindsay Knippenberg, a science teacher from Michigan, is an Einstein Fellow with NOAA. In her presentation she shared some of the resources available to teachers (free of charge) from federal scientific agencies. Among her favorites are those that help students learn to differentiate long-term climate trends from daily weather reports, such as NOAA Climate Services, Data in the Classroom (also from NOAA with lessons to scaffold inquiry on topics related to El Nino, sea level, and water quality), Free Data,  and CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network)  with peer-reviewed lessons. She also introduced the NOAA Education Resources portal  which gives teachers access to materials, graphics, and lessons gleaned from the many NOAA agency sites.

Preston Lewis was a ninth-grade science teacher who turned a layoff into a new career at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. He demonstrated NASA’s S’COOL project  which turns K-12 students (and their teachers) into cloud watchers who supplement NASA satellite data with on-the-ground observations of clouds and cloud cover timed to when the satellite is passing over their school. This authentic, citizen-science project engages classrooms from around the world. The data is available to anyone via the website.
Both of these educators feel that their own classroom experience adds a new dimension to these programs, because they understand the challenges faced by teachers. But they also see the potential of their projects in turning students on to science with real-word applications.