My greatest Ah-ha through my Kenan experience? That is so very difficult to pin-point because I have had so many revolutionary experiences because of my involvement as a Kenan Fellow this year. From meeting inspirational colleagues, facing fears of rafting, learning more about myself, and learning more about education.

I think I would have to say the confidence I have mysteriously summoned through all of the Kenan experiences. Last year, before I ever applied for the fellowship, a colleague was always trying to get me to sign up for various workshops to present at. However, I have always been quite fearful of talking to groups of peers. They would judge me and my knowledge, or just me and my presentation skills, etc. However, for whatever reason, I am now extremely excited to get out there and share my knowledge and experiences with anyone that will listen. My team of fellows have mentioned various opportunities to get out and share our experiences and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I think that what we are creating can be a powerful tool for teachers, parents, administrators, and most importantly student learning and that is exciting stuff!

Thanks to all of the Kenan experiences I’ve had to listen to others share about their projects and being able to talk about mine. Thanks to all of the learning experiences. And thanks to all of my peers who constantly encourage me!

I absolutely love that this is the question for this week! It compliments my thoughts from my previous post. As I quickly glance through the 5th grade Common Core, interestingly, I notice technology is only explicitly mentioned a small handful of times. There are several standards that a teacher might assume the use of technology could support the mastery of but it is not specifically mentioned.

I think what drives me, as a teacher, to want to integrate technology more is the fact that so much in todays society is being handled in a technological manner it becomes apparent that it is imperative to teach using technology. However, there is one devise that NC uses that can also help to motivate teachers to use technology and that is the Educator Evaluation Tool. When teachers are asked to choose only 2 of these standards to focus on (while maintaining and still growing in other areas, of course) this gives us time to really get to know and understand the standard as well as best practices for implementing them into the classroom to maximize student learning. With that in mind, a teacher could choose to focus on the technology aspect of their classroom more because of this tool and less because of the Common Core.

This year, I was being observed by an administrator and during the post conference it was noted that I was marked “developing” for the use of technology in my lesson. I wasn’t in the place to debate this mark because I had, in fact, not used any technology in the lesson. Therefore, the mark was rightfully earned. However, when I had asked, “What suggestions do you have for me that would allow students to utilize technology during this type of lesson?” I was told to meet with another teacher because she had projected a worksheet onto the board for the students using her ELMO. When I heard that I couldn’t help by smirk! How was that, “…using technology to learn content, think critically, solve problems, discern reliability, use information, communicate, innovate, and collaborate.” (as stated in the North Carolina Teacher Evaluation Process, standard 4d.)

After this experience, the session I was lucky enough to attend during the NCDPI summer institute, and all of the amazing resources explored during the Kenan Fellowship NCCAT I will most definitely be focusing on this standard this school year. The first hurtle to get over is trying to make my classroom “worksheet-free”. We do not have the resources to make it paper-less classroom, much like the middle school that the students will be attending, but I am really going to strategize about making the room worksheet-free this year. I think this will force me to find and explore new and known technological resources while teaching this year to enhance the students learning and publication/presentation of their knowledge. I already have contacted a 4th grade teacher to learn about their experience in flipping the classroom as they tried this last year. I also want to continue to meet with a 6th grade science teacher to learn more about the Edmodo program. I’m really excited to see what comes of these changes to my teaching style 🙂

I think the Common Core offers a great many opportunities to utilize various technological products but being aware of these products and given time enough to at least become familiar with it before requiring students to use it is a little more difficult to come by. I’d like to think that I already include the basic technological knowledge in my classroom but I’m interested to hear, what are some ways in which you utilize technology in your classrooms?

My externship has greatly motivated and encouraged me to actively seek new ways to improve upon myself as a teacher. Through my experience I have been exposed to a very valuable book entitled, How Children Learn Number Concepts: A Guide to the Critical Learning Phases. This book has offered powerful insights into how and why children learn and understand mathematics. The author of the book is Kathy Richardson who designed the AMC math assessments and strategies that my fellowship is working with. While this assessment is designed for K-2 learners, it can certainly be adapted for older learners that have yet to build the foundational understanding of “number”. Through this book she also offers insight into students understanding of multiplication and division, basic building blocks for understanding fractional work. As I am moving from teaching 2nd grade for the past 5 years to teaching 5th grade for the first time ever, I find this resource extremely helpful in understanding how a student thinks mathematically.

My fellowship team and I have been hard at work uncovering research and putting into action our plan. As we work through the presentation I can’t help but think about how this tool could help so many people; staff, teachers, students, parents, etc. It was suggested, at one point, that we might travel around the state to share our project, and I am really excited to follow through on this. I am super excited to share it with my school’s second grade team as they embark on this assessment journey for the first time. They have heard of my success stories, seen the AMC products and resources, now they can see it in action using the presentation my fellowship team and I are developing. How exciting!

I have already contacted the company to gain access to the assessments for my 5th grade class as well as two 2nd grade classes for the coming year. After reading through the book, I am really excited to see how authentic learning can look in a 5th grade classroom with the pressures of testing and working in a classroom with 31 students where some do not yet have the foundational skills to understand the “why” in their own mathematics curriculum.

Being a part of a DPI experience I was required to volunteer for NC DPI’s Summer Institute. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity and hope to find my way there again next year! Among the various sessions I was able to attend, one in particular was extremely interesting. I attended a workshop to better understand the teacher evaluation tool that NC uses. I walked away excited to bring back this method of helping others to know and understand the standards. This workshop also allows for a better idea of what it means to be marked at the different levels of accomplishment. I have already contacted my principal about the urgency for this common understanding between all staff members of our school. I’ve also created a prezi and two padlet opportunities to assist in the presentation. I really hope that I am able to share this with my colleagues, it was so empowering!

Because of my experience and opportunity to think through what I discovered in the session I already have my two PDP/IGP goals ready. I think that it would be helpful for other teachers to have the opportunity to have the same experience. This way they might choose their goals with a better understanding of them. I know last year I chose a goal that I didn’t even understand. It turned out alright because once I figured it out, I was already teaching that way. However, I wish I had picked it for the purpose of improving my teaching more than just for having a better understanding of it.

Do you find that there is an inconsistency between what your staff at your school understands/interprets verses what your administration marks/interprets using the teacher evaluation tool?

Perhaps the most obvious and most commonly stated challenges to integrating innovative technology into the classroom…

Funding
It is so hard to request or even suggest the idea of upgrading or improving the ancient hardware/software that already exists in schools. With all of the outrageous financial educational expense legislation is putting out there, which continues to minimize personnel, it is hard to justify bringing in current technology resources. Keeping in mind that for at least the past 5 years people have been losing their jobs in education.

Resources
From my understanding/point of view, it is only in very recent years that there has been “usable” technological resources available for the K-2 learner. A tablet (light weight and hands on interactions) is a very reasonable device and seemingly appropriate applications have only recently begun to come to light or perhaps even be developed.

Awareness
Often it is portrayed that technology is a “back-burner” concern, it is an additive, or something extra to teach other then the curriculum. Because of its seemingly lack of importance on a students educational experience, time spent researching, exploring, and understanding technology for the classroom is at a minimal at best. Therefore, the awareness of the rich resources that are available are shadowed, sadly. Perhaps personal school experiences of learning to type in high school with the scarf over fingers or pressure from testing, etc.

Willingness to change/adapt/support
“Teachers already know what works for their students and that does not require technology! Computers have games and uncensored internet; that is not a learning tool! There is not enough funding to get a support technician. Sure, you can try it on your own and then share your experiences with others.” These are all thoughts I’ve personally experienced or heard in response to thoughts on technology.

…who is also a 2013 graduate of the UNC MEDX program and current Kenan fellow!

STEM\paperless classroom\interaction\authentic experiences\teachable time\etc.
Recently, I had the awesome idea of having one-to-one tablets for the fifth graders in our school (I’m graduating to 5th grade this coming school year). My school is in the process of being a recognized STEM school and we have identified the lack of technology being integrated into our lessons. I thought with the right resources we could vastly improve our technology integration. When I presented the idea to my principal, she was fine that I bring it up with my new team and see what they felt. The team seemed pretty excited about it. Except one teacher! Initially, she came off as a bit resistant but I later came to realize that she balances my “head in the clouds” ideas with reality. So I went to share with my principal that the team was alright with perusing the idea and that is where I have had to stop. My next step would be to address our district technology coordinator but I was asked to wait on that.

It was refreshing to know that my new team with varying teaching experiences willing to embrace this idea and I hope to be able to follow through with the plan. One of my goals for “next steps” in this process is to learn from others that are using edmodo in their classrooms. If you do, please share any Ah’s or cautionary tales below. Personal experiences are very helpful in helping me to know where to go next

Fellowship, as defined by wiktionary, is a company of people that shares the same interest or aim. It can also be a feeling of friendship, relatedness or connection between people.

As cliché as it seems after the alumni Kenan Fellows all stated, the friendships and bonds formed over the whole of the NCCAT experience is my highlight.

The first connection made was when I tried to call a fellow on my project using the room phones just after arriving at NCCAT. I thought it could be fun to get a call on a landline! I wanted to invite her to explore the grounds before our first gathering with all of the fellows. However, after trying the room extension listed I was unable to reach her as there seemed to have been an error somewhere and I kept reaching the wrong person. Well, I gave up and explored without her, figuring I’d see her in a short while.

After finding the koi and the “secret garden” during the brief exploration period, my project partners and I met at a table for the introductory activities. As we began to settle in I explained my phone story to the table (as I was smelling the nostalgic Mr. Sketch markers) and as it turned out, the person I had contacted twice was at that table! Later she became an “adopted” member of our fellowship.

Throughout the week there were many opportunities to meet so many fabulous teachers from across the state. While we all call different parts of the state home and we all have a variety of teaching passions, we were all there because we want to help other teachers and ourselves to become more informed educators. We are all there to explore different academic topics and we all have different academic and personal interests and that made for great opinions in conversation however, we were all there to help inspire change.

Learning about the different projects at meals and on the patio, getting technical support from ranging technological experts, and moral support from experienced white water rafters were opportune moments to spark fellowships.

The turtle in this picture was spotted while on a brief hike up the mountain path at NCCAT that I was exploring with a friend that I accidentally met while trying to call another friend. I wonder, where is this turtle was headed? Maybe he was on his way to his own fellowship meeting