As DPI Math fellows, the nature of our lessons is different than that of most Kenan projects.  We created a series of professional development presentations and a facilitator’s guide to accompany them.  Our lessons are intended for teachers.  We are specifically interested in reaching early elementary teachers who need support in building conceptual understanding of number sense.  Our project communicates the importance of developing this foundation within young students and provides a great jumping off point for this important classroom transformation.

I feel very confident in our final product.  We already accepted to three regional NCTM conferences in 2014.  Hopefully this will influence other teachers on a national scale.  In terms of spreading our work on a more local level, Katie and I will be presenting at the Triangle High Five SAS Math Summit this year.  While we will each be representing our own district at the event, I know that my work with our Kenan project has already heavily influenced the presentation proposal I have drafted.  Unfortunately, we have not yet learned how, exactly, DPI plans to distribute our work.  I am sure that will be settled in the near future.  While our formal Kenan Fellowship is winding down, I really believe that my fellow fellows and my work together is really just beginning.  I am sure that both the professional and personal relationships that I have forged with Katie, Christina, and our mentor will last far beyond our year as Kenans.

I am very grateful to both Kenan Fellows and Lenovo for the opportunity to work with the Lenovo tablet throughout my Kenan Fellowship experience.  The nature of the Lenovo tablet is perfect for the elementary classroom and melds nicely with the type of activities I plan for my students as a result of my work on my fellowship project.

As a classroom teacher in an elementary school, I love having a tablet to take with me as I visit students where their learning is happening.  I take a lot of anecdotal notes about what I observe in my classroom, and it is nice to have a device that can accompany me as I make these observations.  I have specifically enjoyed using the Evernote app on my tablet as a tool in the classroom.

With regard to the content of our Kenan Fellowship, the work of Kathy Richardson (on which our project if focused) hinges on hands-on, experiential math experiences.  This work cannot be genuinely reflected on a worksheet.  The ability to snap pictures of videos of student work using the tablet is invaluable.  I have included a video of one of our math assessments used in our Kenan project.  It is student interviews like these that give teachers extraordinary insight into students’ understandings of number concepts.

Kenan Fellowship: 2nd Grade Hiding Assessment